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COMMEMORATION 


OF    THE 


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CONQUEST  OF  NEW  NETHERLAND, 


OX   ITS 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY. 


NEW  YORK  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 


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NEW   YORK: 
PUBLISHED   BY    THE    SOCIETY. 

M   DCCC  LXIV. 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

HE  UNIVERSITY 
IF  CALIFORNIA 

PRESENTED  BY 
IF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 
[RS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


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COMMEMORATION 


CONQUEST  OF  NEW  NETHERLAND, 


ON  ITS 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY. 


BY    THE 


I^EAV  YOEK  HISTOEIOAL  SOCIETY. 


NEW  YORK: 
TUBLISHED   BY   THE   SOCIETY 

M  DCCC  LXTV. 


C.   A.   ALVOKD,   PRINTER. 


Fizz 


COMMITTEE    OF  ARRANGEMENTS 


FOR 


THE    COMMEMORATION. 

1864. 


GULIAN   C.  VERPLANCK, 
GEORGE  BANCROFT, 
HAMILTON  FISH, 
JAMES  W.  BEEKMAN, 
EVERT  A.  DUYCKINCK, 
FREDERIC  de  PEYSTER, 
AUGUSTUS  SCHELL, 
GEORGE  FOLSOM, 
CHARLES  P.  KIRKLAND, 
ANDREW  WARNER, 
GEORGE  H.  MOORE. 


MS16861 


O  RATI  OK 


OX  THE 


CONQUEST  OF  NEW  NETHERLAND, 


DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE 


NEW  YORK  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY, 


On  Wednesday,  the  Twelfth  of  October,  1864. 


BY 


JOHN  ROMEYN  BRODHEAD. 


NEW  YORK: 
PUBLISHED  BY  THE  S 

M  DCCC  LXIY. 


At  a  Meeting  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society,  held  at  the  Hall  of  the 
Union,  Cooper  Institute,  on  "Wednesday  Evening,  October  12th,  1864,  to  com- 
memorate the  Two  Hundredth  Anniversary  of  the  Conquest  of  New  Nether- 
land, 

"  G-ulian  C.  Verplanck,  LL.D.,  submitted  the  following  Eesolution,  which 
was  seconded  by  George  Bancroft,  LL.D.,  and  adopted  unanimously: 

"  Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  this  Society  are  eminently  due  and  are  hereby 
tendered  to  John  Romeyn  Brodhead,  LL.D.,  for  his  eloquent  Oration,  delivered 
this  evening,  in  commemoration  of  the  Conquest  of  New  Netherland,  and  that  a 
copy  be  requested  for  the  Archives  of  the  Society,  and  for  publication." 

Extract  from  the  Minutes  : 

ANDREW  WARNER, 

Recording  Secretary. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1864,  by 

John  Eometn  Brodhead, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern  District 

of  New  York. 


COMMEMORATIVE   ORATION. 


Brothers  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society: 

Two  hundred  years. ago,  an  English  squadron,  rilled 
with  armed  men,  came  up  our  Bay,  and  anchored  near 
what  is  now  our  Battery.  Its  presence  foreboded  and 
produced  results  of  momentous  interest  to  our  city,  our 
State,  and  our  nation.  You  have  directed  that  the  anni- 
versary of  this  event  should  be  fitly  observed ;  and,  in 
obedience  to  your  call,  I  venture  to  review  the  circum- 
stances and  consider  the  consequences  of  the  transaction 
which  we  are  this  day  assembled  to  commemorate. 

In  the  summer  of  the  year  sixteen  hundred  and  sixty  - 
four,  the  eastern  coast  of  North  America  was  occupied  by 
various  separate  Colonies,  which  had  been  founded  by 
several  European  nations.  For  nearly  half  a  century, 
England,  France,  and  the  United  Netherlands  had  each 
been  endeavoring  to  appropriate  territory  there,  and  rear 
dependent  Plantations.  France,  the  pioneer  in  successful 
colonization,  had  first  pushed  her  adventurous  way 
through  the  valley  of  the  Saint  Lawrence,  and  set  up  the 
cross  of  her  faith  with  the  lilies  of  her  king,  among  the 
savages  who  dwelt  on  its  borders.  Thus  began  her  do- 
minion over  New  France,  or  Canada  and  Acadia.  Farther 
south,  England  had  kept  closer  to  the  sea-coast,  the  clear 
waters  of  which  abounded  with  fish,  and  where  safe  har- 


8  Commemorative  Oration. 

bors  invited  the  emigrant  to  linger  near  those  crystal 
waves  which  could  roll  unbroken  to  Land's  End.  Yet 
England  had  not  occupied  the  whole  of  that  more  southern 
coast.  Midway  between  Virginia  and  New  England,  colo- 
nists from  Holland,  following  their  countrymen  who  had 
explored  the  unknown  wild,  planted  themselves  quietly 
among  the  natives  from  whom  they  bought  the  soil,  and 
sought  to  add  a  New  Netherland  to  the  Batavian 
Republic* 

All  these  various  colonies  were  settled  under  the  author- 
ity of  the  respective  countries  in  Europe  whence  they 
came.  In  the  earlier  period  of  adventure,  those  countries 
had  adopted  the  principle  that  the  savage  territories  which 
each  might  discover  should  become  the  absolute  property 
of  the  explorer.  As  Columbus  had  discovered  the  New 
World — which  ought  to  have  borne  his  illustrious  name 
— in  the  service  of  Spain,  Pope  Alexander  the  Sixth 
decreed  that  the  Spanish  sovereign  should  hold  forever 
nearly  the  whole  of  that  vast  region  which  the  Atlan- 
tic washed  on  the  west.f  A  few  years  afterwards,  the 
Cabots,  under  commissions  from  Henry  the  Seventh  of 
England,  discovered  Newfoundland,  and  sailed,  at  a 
distance  along  the  coast,  as  far  south  as  Albemarle  Sound. 
By  virtue  of  these  discoveries,  the  successors  of  Henry 
claimed  sovereignty  over  all  that  part  of  the  North  Ameri- 
can continent  along  the  shores  of  which  the  Cabots  had 
sailed.  £    But,   as  the  previous  sweeping  title  of  Spain 

*  Tacitus  describes  the  Batavians,  who  dwelt  at  the  mouths  of  the  Rhine,  as 
"the  bravest"  of  all  the  Germanic  tribes — "virtuteprcecipui  Batavif  De  Mor.  Ger., 
29.  These  Batavians  were  the  forefathers  of  the  founders  of  that  Republic,  the 
early  history  of  which  Mr.  Motley  has  so  worthily  written.  I  use  the  word  "Bata- 
vian" as  synonymous  with  "Dutch."  In  its  proper  English  sense  the  term 
"Dutch"  is  exclusively  applied  to  the  people  of  Holland,  or  the  Netherlands,  or 
T,o w  Lands.  It  is  a  common  blunder  to  call  the  people  of  Germany  "  Dutchmen," 
instead  of  "  Germans,"  which  is  their  correct  national  name  in  English. 

+  Chalmers's  Political  Annals,  6, 10;  Hazard's  Collections,  I.  3-6;  Irving' s  Colum- 
bus, I.  185-200;  Holmes's  Annals,  I.  7,  559;  Brodhead's  History  of  New  York,  I.  2. 

%  Chalmers,  4,  8,9;  Bancroft,  I.  10-14;  Brodhead,  I.  2;  Palfrey's  New  Eng- 
land, I.  62,  63. 


Commemorative  Oration.  9 

cut  off  any  English  claim,  Queen  Elizabeth  declared  that 
" prescription  without  possession  is  of  no  avail;"  or, 
in  other  words,  that  actual  occupation  must  follow  dis- 
covery, in  order  to  confer  a  valid  right  to  savage  terri- 
tory.* This  principle,  which  echoed  the  old  Roman 
law,  was  first  asserted  by  the  Queen  of  England  in  1580, 
because  it  was  convenient  for  her  to  assert  it  against 
Spain ;  and  it  was  deliberately  confirmed  by  Parliament 
in  1621.  f  It  established  a  most  important  rule  in  regard 
to  European  colonization  in  America. 

Accordingly,  France,  with  the  quiet  assent  of  Spain 
and  England,  explored  the  Saint  Lawrence  and  occupied 
Canada  and  Acadia.  A  Florentine  mariner  in  her  service 
had,  as  early  as  1524,  discovered  the  Bay  of  New  York, 
and  praised  its  lake-like  beauty.  But  as  the  voyage  of 
Verazzano  did  not  lead  to  colonization,  France  claimed  no 
title  to  these  regions  which  he  had  visited.  Neither  did 
the  explorations  of  Gomez,  in  the  following  year,  induce 
the  Spaniards  to  occupy  our  coast.  £ 

•  The  doctrine  maintained  by  Queen  Elizabeth  was,  "  Prcescriptio  sine  possessione 
haud  valeat;"  Camden,  Annales  Eliz.,  1580  (Ed.  Hearne),  360;  Brodhead  I.  4,  note. 
The  translation  of  Camden  in  Kennett's  England,  II.  481  (Lond.,  1706),  renders 
the  passage  as  follows :  "  Moreover,  she  understood  not  why  her  or  any  other  Prince's 
subjects  should  be  debarred  from  the  Indies,  which  she  could  not  persuade  herself 
the  Spaniard  had  any  just  title  to  by  the  Bishop  of  Rome's  Donation  (in  whom  she 
acknowledged  no  Prerogative,  much  less  authority,  in  such  cases,  so  as  to  lay  any 
tie  upon  Princes  which  owed  him  no  obedience  or  observance,  or,  as  it  were,  t© 
infeoffe  the  Spaniard  in  that  New  World,  and  invest  him  with  the  possession  thereof), 
nor  yet  by  any  other  claim  than  as  they  had  touched  here  and  there  upon  the 
coasts,  built  cottages,  and  given  names  to  a  River  or  a  Cape ;  which  things  cannot 
entitle  them  to  a  Propriety.  So  that  this  donation  of  that  which  is  another  man's, 
which  is  of  no  validity  in  law,  and  this  imaginary  propriety,  cannot  hinder  other 
princes  from  trading  into  those  countries,  and,  without  breach  of  the  Law  of  Na- 
tions, from  transporting  colonies  into  those  parts  thereof  where  the  Spaniards  in- 
habit not,  forasmuch  as  Prescription  without  Possession  is  little  worth."  This 
very  sound  doctrine  annihilates  the  English  claim  by  "  Prescription,"  derived  from 
the  voyages  of  the  Cabots,  who,  unlike  the  Spaniards,  do  not  appear  to  have 
"touched  here  and  there  upon  the  coasts,  built  cottages,  and  given  names  to  a 
River  or  a  Cape;  which  things  cannot  entitle  them  to  a  Propriety." 

t  Commons'  Debates,  I.  250,  251;  Chalmers,  6;  Grotius,  II.  2;  Brodhead,  I.  143; 
New  York  Colonial  Documents,  IX.  265,  378,  913. 

X  Holmes,  I.  54,  56;  Bancroft,  1. 17,  38;  Brodhead,  I.  2,  3;  Palfrey,  I.  64,  65;  New 
York  Historical  Society's  Collections,  (II.)  L  37-67. 


10  Commemorative  Oration. 

In  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  the  first  English  colonists 
were  sent  to  Virginia.  But  the  adventure  failed  ;  and  the 
name  which  Raleigh  gave  to  the  savage  lands  he  had 
attempted  to  occupy  alone  survived.  A  few  years  after- 
wards, the  enterprising  English  mariners,  Gosnold,  Pring, 
and  Weymouth,  visited  the  rivers  of  Maine,  and  explored 
the  coast  as  far  south  as  Buzzard' s  Bay.  No  European  emi- 
grants, however,  came  to  take  possession  of  one  acre  of  the 
wild  territory  between  Acadia  and  Virginia.  To  promote 
such  occupation,  by  which  alone,  according  to  the  English 
rule,  a  valid  title  could  be  secured,  King  James  the  First, 
in  April,  1606,  granted  to  two  different  companies  the 
privilege  of  planting  and  governing  two  distinct  and  sepa- 
rate colonies  in  that  part  of  North  America  lying  between 
the  thirty-fourth  and  the  forty -fifth  degrees  of  latitude, 
or  between  Cape  Fear  and  Acadia,  not  "actually  pos- 
sessed by  any  Christian  prince  or  people."  Two  English 
settlements  were  accordingly  begun  in  the  following  year. 
The  first  of  these,  within  the  Chesapeake  Bay,  became  the 
prosperous  colony  of  Virginia.  The  second,  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Sagadahoc,  or  Kennebec,  was  abandoned  in  1608. 
But  no  attempt  was  made  to  occupy  any  part  of  the  inter- 
mediate region,  nor  had  any  English  mariner  yet  searched 
the  shore  between  Buzzard's  Bay  and  the  Chesapeake.* 

In  this  situation  of  affairs,  another  Englishman,  Henry 
Hudson,  f  sailing  from  Amsterdam  in  the  service  of  the 
Dutch  East  India  Company,  explored,  in  the  autumn  of 
1609,    "The  Great   River  of   the  Mountains,"   the 

*  Hazard,  I.  50-58;  Smith's  Virginia;  Pinkerton,  XIII.  211;  Brodhead,  I.  5-15. 

f  It  is  a  vulgar  error  to  substitute  "Hendrick"  Hudson  for  "Hemw"  Hudson. 
De  Laet  probably  originated  it,  by  writing,  in  Dutch,  Hendrick  for  Henry,  in  his 
"  New  World,"  cap.  VII.  p.  83,  Ed.  1625.  Van  der  Donck  does  the  same,  although 
he  speaks  of  Hudson  as  an  Englishman.  Lambrechtsen  names  him  correctly. 
Purchas  of  course  calls  him  "Henry;"  see  N.  Y.  Historical  Society's  Collections,  I. 
61,  81,  102,  146,  173.  Mr.  H.  C.  Murphy,  in  his  recent  interesting  monograph  on 
Hudson,  p.  36,  gives  a  copy  of  the  contract  of  the  8th  of  January,  1609,  to  which 
the  name  signed  is  "Henry  Hudson." 


Commemorative  Oration.  11 

mouth  of  which  Verazzano  had  discovered  and  Gomez  had 
revisited  nearly  a  century  before.  This  memorable  event 
was  duly  commemorated  by  our  predecessors  and  asso- 
ciates fifty-five  years  ago,  when  the  Reverend  Doctor 
Miller  delivered  the  first  anniversary  discourse  before  the 
New  York  Historical  Society.*  The  track  of  the  yacht 
Half-Moon  was  soon  followed  by  emigrants  from  Hol- 
land ;  and,  in  1613,  Dutch  trading  establishments  were 
formed  at  Manhattan,  and  at  the  present  city  of  Albany. 
The  islands,  coasts,  and  rivers  between  Sandy  Hook  and 
Buzzard' s  Bay  were  now  for  the  first  time  explored  by 
Adriaen  Block,  who  sailed  in  the  " Restless,"  or  "Un- 
rest," through  Hell-Gate ;  and  other  Holland  mariners 
pushed  their  examinations  eastward,  as  far  as  Acadia. 
In  October,  1614,  the  General  Government  of  the  Dutch 
Republic  granted  a  Charter  to  the  owners  of  the  vessels 
which  had  thus  been  employed  in  American  adventure, 
authorizing  them  exclusively  for  three  years  from  January, 
1615,  to  visit  the  "newly  discovered  lands"  they  had 
explored  between  New  France  and  Virginia,  extend- 
ing from  the  fortieth  to  the  forty-fifth  degree  of  latitude, 
which  region  was  now  formally  named  "New  Nethek- 

LAND."f 

The  title  which  Holland  thus  acquired  to  New  Nether- 
land — as  far  east,  at  any  rate,  as  Buzzard's  Bay — was  as 
just  and  valid  as  any  of  which  the  history  of  the  world 
contains  a  record.  According  to  the  English  rule,  it  un- 
doubtedly belonged  to  the  Dutch.  Unquestionable  dis- 
covery had  been  followed  by  the   actual  occupation  of 

*  See  New  York  Historical  Society's  Collections,  1. 17-60. 

t  See  Appendix,  Note  A;  N.  Y.  Colonial  Documents,  I.  10,  11;  Brodhead,  I, 
25-65.  Another  vulgar  error  which  must  be  noticed,  is  the  absurd  use  of  the  term 
"  the  Nevj  Netherlands"  instead  of  "  New  Netherland."  In  this  respect,  the  transla- 
tions of  Lambrechtsen,Van  der  Donck,  De  Vries,  and  De  Laet,  in  N.  Y.  Hist.  Soe. 
Coll.  (II.)  I.  79,  129,  250,  291,  are  gratuitously  faulty.  The  original  Dutch  in  every 
case  is  "Nieuw  Nederlandt,"  and  not  ude  Nieuw  Nederlandea."  Even  Smith,  in 
his  History  of  New  York,  L  5,  gives  the  name  correctly,  as  "  Nova  Belgia,  or  New 
Netherland." 


12  Commemorative  Oration. 

savage  territory  by  a  Christian  people.*  Still  further  to 
maintain  their  rights,  the  Dutch  Government,  in  June, 
1621,  after  the  expiration  of  the  original  New  Netherland 
Charter,  incorporated  a  West  India  Company,  with  power 
to  colonize  and  govern  the  "  fruitful  and  unsettled"  re- 
gions in  Africa  and  America  which  it  might  occupy,  f 

Under  this  charter  New  Netherland  grew  into  a  Prov- 
ince, invested  by  the  States-General  with  the  arms  of  a 
Count,  and  deriving  its  laws,  its  habits,  and  its  religion 
from  its  Batavian  Fatherland.  Manhattan  Island  was 
honestly  purchased  from  the  aborigines,  and  made  the 
emporium  of  the  fur-trade,  which  produced  the  chief  pro- 
vincial revenue.  Fort  Amsterdam  was  built  on  its  south- 
ern point,  as  a  refuge  in  case  of  an  attack  by  the  savages. 
Posts  were  also  established  at  Fort  Orange,  now  Albany, 
on  the  North  River ;  at  Fort  Nassau,  near  Philadelphia, 
on  the  South,  or  Delaware  ;  and  at  Good  Hope,  now  Hart- 
ford, on  the  Fresh,  or  Connecticut.  Agricultural  colonies, 
subordinate  to  the  general  Provincial  Government,  were 
likewise  settled,  under  Patroons,  at  several  points  on  the 
North  and  South  Rivers.^ 

Six  years  after  the  Dutch  Federal  Government  had  fixed 
the  name  of  New  Netherland  on  the  map  of  the  world, 
King  James  the  First,  adopting  the  term  originally  pro- 
posed by  John  Smith,  sealed  a  patent  in  November,  1620, 
for  the  colonization  of  "New  England  in  America."  In 
this  he  included  all  the  territory  between  the  fortieth  and 
the  forty-eighth  degrees  of  latitude,  and  from  the  Atlantic 
to  the  Pacific.  But  the  patent  candidly  provided  that  no 
territory  was  intended  to  be  granted  which  was  "  actually 
possessed  or  inhabited  by  any  other  Christian  prince  or 

*  See  Note  B,  in  the  Appendix. 

f  Hazard,  I.  120-131 ;  Brodhead,  I.  134-137. 

%  N.  Y.  Col.  Doc.,  I.  37,  139,  181,  262,  283-290;  Brodhead,  I.  148,  151,  153,  164, 
200-203,  235.  An  engraving  of  the  Provincial  Seal  of  New  Netherland  embellishes 
the  title-page  of  this  publication. 


Commemorative  Oration.  13 

estate."     This  proviso  clearly  excepted  New  France  and 
New  Netherlands 

The  same  year,  a  second  and  more  successful  experi- 
ment was  made  in  colonizing  a  part  of  titular  New  Eng- 
land. This  adventure  was  undertaken,  however,  before 
the  patent  of  King  James  was  sealed.  The  emigrants  were 
English  Puritans,  most  of  whom  had  enjoyed  an  asylum 
for  several  years  in  Holland,  and  were  so  well  satisfied 
with  its  liberal  government,  that  they  desired  to  settle 
themselves  in  America  under  its  flag.  Their  minister  at 
Leyden,  John  Robinson,  wha  was  versed  in  the  Dutch 
language,  accordingly  offered  to  accompany  four  hundred 
families  from  Holland  and  England  to  New  Netherland,  and 
plant  there  anew  commonwealth,  under  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  Prince  of  Orange  and  the  States-General.  But  the  au- 
thorities of  the  Republic,  preferring  that  their  American 
Province  should  be  first  colonized  by  their  own  citizens, 
and  unwilling  to  excite  the  jealousy  of  the  King  of  England, 
by  transplanting  and  protecting  there  his  refractory  sub- 
jects, who  wished  to  emigrate,  declined  to  encourage 
Robinson's  proposition. f  The  Puritan  refugees,  having 
obtained  a  large  patent  from  the  English  Virginia  Com- 
pany, which  authorized  them  to  settle  themselves  south 
of  the  fortieth  degree  of  latitude — in  what  now  forms 
part  of  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  and  Maryland — therefore 
set  sail  in  the  Mayflower,  intending  to  make  their  first 
land  at  Sandy  Hook,  which  was  the  best  known  point.} 


*  Hazard,  I.  103-118;  Trumbull's  Connecticut,  I.  546-567;  Smith's  Virginia; 
Pinkerton,  XIII.  208;  Chalmers,  81,  83;  Brodhead,  I.  90-96,  252.  It  is  to  be  re- 
marked that  while  the  first  Patent  of  April,  1606,  only  reached  to  the  forty-fifth 
degree  {ante,  p.  10),  this  second  Patent,  of  November,  1620,  grasped  three  degrees 
farther  north.  At  the  time  of  its  grant,  the  French  occupation  of  Canada  was 
notorious,  and  the  Dutch  possession  of  New  Netherland  must  have  been  known  to 
the  English  authorities ;  Brodhead,  I.  95,  96,  144 ;  Note  B,  Appendix. 

t  N.  Y.  Col.  Doc.,  I.  22-24;  Brodhead,  I.  115-128;  Bradford's  Plymouth,  42,  43. 

\  The  northern  boundary  of  Virginia,  according  to  its  second  Charter  of  1609, 
was  two  hundred  miles  north  of  Point  Comfort,  or  about  the  fortieth  parallel  of 
latitude,    which    intersects    the    neighborhood    of    Barnegat    and    Philadelphia; 


14  Commemorative  Oration. 

But,  after  a  boisterous  voyage,  they  were  driven  north- 
ward to  Cape  Cod  ;  and,  having  vainly  attempted  to  sail 
around  the  shoals  of  Cape  Malebarre,  they  at  length,  in 
December,  1620,  accidentally  landed  on  the  sandy  beach 
of  New  Plymouth.* 

This  first  Puritan  colony  in  New  England  was  followed, 
after  a  few  years,  by  a  larger  emigration  to  Massachusetts 
Bay.  Before  long,  other  English  settlements  were  begun 
on  the  Fresh  or  Connecticut  River,  and  at  New  Haven, 
which  regions  Adriaen  Block  had  discovered,  and  from 
which  it  was  thought  profitable  to  "  crowd  the  Dutch 
out."f  Rhode  Island  was  also  founded,  in  a  spirit  of 
catholic  magnanimity,  by  fugitives  from  the  sectarian  des- 
potism of  Massachusetts.  The  eastern  end  of  Long  Island 
(around  the  whole  of  which  Block  had  been  the  first  to 
sail,  and  which  was  first  laid  down  on  a  Dutch  map)J  was 
soon  afterwards  adversely  occupied  by  emigrants  from 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut.  All  these  settlements, 
except  the  first  one  at  New  Plymouth,  were  made  under 
the  general  authority  of  the  New  England  Patent ;  and, 
in  the  case  of  Long  Island,  under  special  grants  from  the 
Earl  of  Stirling,  to  whom  it  had  been  conveyed  by  the 
Patentees  of  James  the  First.  § 


Chalmers,  25 ;  Hazard,  I.  58-72;  Holmes,  I.  133 ;  Brodhead,  I.  15, 122, 129,  252.  It 
has  been  stated  (ante,  p.  12  ),  that  the  New  England  Patent  of  November,  1620, 
extended  from  the  fortieth  degree  (or  the  northern  boundary  of  Virginia),  north  to 
the  forty-eighth.  The  Mayflower  "  Pilgrims,"  therefore,  intended  to  settle  them- 
selves south  of  the  fortieth  degree  of  latitude,  where  only  their  Patent  from  the  Vir- 
ginia Company  could  advantage  them.  Mr.  J.  S.  Barry,  however,  in  his  recent  His- 
tory of  Massachusetts,  I.  70,  conjectures  that  if  that  Patent  should  ever  be  discov- 
ered, it  would  "  be  found  to  cover  territory  now  included  in  New  York." 

*  Bradford's  Plymouth,  44-S8;   Brodhead,  I.  128-133. 

t  J.  H.  Trumbull's  Colonial  Records  of  Connecticut,  I.  565. 

%  See  the  "  Figurative  Map,"  in  N.  Y.  Col.  Doc,  I.  13,  referred  to  in  Note  A,  in 
Appendix.  I  do  not  find  sufficient  evidence  that  Gomez  sailed  through  Long  Island 
Sound,  or  that  it  is  represented  in  Ribero's  Planisphere  of  1529 ;  see  Palfrey,  I.  65, 
66;  Asher's  Introduction  to  "  Henry  Hudson,  the  Navigator,"  lxxxviii.,xci.—  xciii., 
cli.  The  curious  copper  globe  which  Mr.  Buckingham  Smith  recently  deposited 
with  the  New  York  Historical  Society  does  not  exhibit  Long  Island. 

§  Brodhead,  I.  189,  208,  231,  240,  211,  259,  260,  293-300,  324,  331,  332. 


Commemorative  Oration.  15 

While  these  colonies  were  thus  growing  on  the  north 
and  east  of  New  Netherland,  another  English  settlement 
was  established  on  her  southern  frontier.  Lord  Baltimore, 
a  Roman  Catholic  peer  of  Ireland,  obtained  from  Charles 
the  First,  in  1632,  a  patent  for  that  part  of  the  territory 
of  Virginia  lying  between  the  north  bank  of  the  Poto- 
mac and  the  fortieth  degree  of  latitude,  which,  in  honor 
of  the  Queen,  was  named  Maryland.  Emigrants,  chiefly 
of  the  Roman  faith,  soon  came  over  to  occupy  the  Prov- 
ince, which  was  founded  on  more  liberal  principles  than 
any  that  British  subjects  had  yet  planted  in  America.* 

In  the  mean  time,  New  Netherland  flourished  apace. 
Churches  were  built ;  Dutch  clergymen,  educated  and 
ordained  in  Holland,  were  established ;  schoolmasters 
were  employed,  and  schools  opened  ;  and  laws,  based  on 
the  jurisprudence  of  the  Batavian  Republic,  were  enacted. 
Names  familiar  in  the  Fatherland  replaced,  with  more 
affection  than  good  taste,  the  sonorous  and  descriptive 
nomenclature  of  the  aborigines.  The  young  metropolis 
on  Manhattan  became  New  Amsterdam,  and  hope  whis- 
pered that  the  glory  of  the  latter  city  might,  in  time, 
eclipse  the  greatness  of  the  old.f 

The  Provincial  government  of  New  Netherland  was 
vested  in  a  Director  and  Council,  and  a  Fiscal  or  Attorney- 
General,  appointed  by  the  West  India  Company.  The 
supreme  laws  of  the  Province  were  the  ordinances  of  the 
Director  and  Council,  the  instructions  of  the  Company^ 
and  the  statutes  and  customs  of  the  Fatherland.  To 
administer  this  government  and  execute  these  laws,  the 
Company  appointed  Cornells  Jacobsen  May  to  be  the 
first  Director  of  New  Netherland,  in  1624.     May  was  suc- 


*  Bancroft,  I.  341-248 ;  Brodhead.,  I.  251-253. 

t  Brodhead,  I.  183,  196,  223,  313,  337,  343,  374,  467.     The  population  of  Amster- 
dam, in  1857,  was  259,873 ;  that  of  New  York,  in  1860,  was  813,669. 


16  Commemorative  Oration. 

ceeded,  the  next  year,  by  William  Verhulst.  In  1626, 
Peter  Minuit,  a  man  of  sagacity,  was  made  Director  ;  and 
in  1633  he  was  replaced  by  the  more  stolid  Wouter  van 
Twiller.  From  1638  until  1647,  William  Kieft,  a  person 
of  more  activity  but  less  prudence  than  any  of  his  prede- 
cessors, struggled  through  a  turbulent  administration.  In 
the  summer  of  1647,  Peter  Stuyvesant  began  a  service  as 
Director- General,  which  lasted  for  seventeen  years,  and 
ended  only  with  the  downfall  of  the  Dutch  dominion.* 

Stuyvesant  was  one  of  those  remarkable  men  who 
stamp  their  names  worthily  on  history.  The  son  of  a 
Dutch  clergyman  in  Friesland,  he  was  educated  at  the 
famous  High  School  at  Franeker,  where  he  acquired  that 
familiarity  with  the  Latin  tongue,  which  he  was  always 
rather  fond  of  displaying.  Having  entered  the  military 
service  of  the  West  India  Company,  he  was  sent  to  Cura- 
coa  as  their  Director.  While  in  that  office  he  lost  a  leg  in 
a  venturesome  attack  on  Saint  Martin,  and  was  obliged  to 
return  to  Holland.  Before  long  he  was  promoted  to  the 
Directorship  of  New  JNetherland,  whither  he  sailed,  after 
having  taken  his  oath  in  the  presence  of  the  States- Gen- 
eral, f  With  many  of  the  nobler  characteristics,  Stuyve- 
sant oftentimes  exhibited  some  of  the  weaker  and  more 
frivolous  qualities  of  mankind.  He  delighted  in  pomp, 
and  the  ostentation  of  despotic  command.  Imperious  and 
irascible,  he  was  honest  and  faithful.  Obeying  the  orders 
of  his  superiors  with  scrupulous  zeal,  he  insisted  on  the 
implicit  obedience  of  his  subordinates.  If  he  was  arbi- 
trary, he  was  generally  just.  He  loved  his  Fatherland, 
her  laws,  and  her  religion,  with  hearty  devotion ;  and 
if,  at  times,  his  earnestness  carried  him  beyond  the  bounds 
of  discretion,  none  can  impeach  the  sincerity  of  his  pur- 

*  Brodhead,  I.  154,  159,  162-164,  222,  223,  275,  413,  414,  4(*. 

t  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.  (II.)  III.  263,  264;  Col.  Doc,  I.  164,  173,  175-178;  Brodhead, 
I.  413,  414,  432,  433.  A  translation  of  Stuyvesant' s  Commission  is  in  the  Appen- 
dix, Note  C. 


Commemorative  Oration.  17 

poses,  or  fail  to  admire  the  energetic  firmness  with  which 
he  enforced  his  own  convictions. 

Under  such  administration,  in  spite  of  much  selfish  mis- 
management on  the  part  of  the  West  India  Company, 
New  Netherland  increased  abundantly.  Emigrants  con- 
stantly came  over  from  Holland,  while  French  and  English 
subjects  flocked  in  from  the  neighboring  colonies.  From 
Massachusetts,  especially,  several  persecuted  Protestants 
were  attracted  by  the  freedom  of  conscience  which  was 
the  well-known  characteristic  of  the  Dutch  Province. 
Others  came  from  afar,  to  share  the  substantial  prosperity 
which  its  comprehensive  system,  no  less  than  its  physical 
advantages,  insured.  "Promote  commerce,"  wrote  the 
West  India  Company  to  Stuyvesant,  in  the  winter  of  1652, 
"  whereby  Manhattan  must  prosper,  her  population  in- 
crease, her  trade  and  navigation  flourish.  For  when  these 
once  become  permanently  established — when  the  ships  of 
New  Netherland  ride  on  every  part  of  the  ocean — then 
numbers,  now  looking  to  that  coast  with  eager  eyes,  will 
be  allured  to  embark  for  your  island."*  The  prophecy 
was  splendidly  fulfilled.  New  Amsterdam  rapidly  grew 
in  importance,  and  was  allowed  a  municipal  magistracy 
of  her  own,  consisting  of  Sellout,  Burgomasters,  and  Sche- 
pens,  in  imitation  of  her  imperial  namesake  on  the  Zuyder 
Zee.  Her  foreign  commerce  soon  began  to  rival  her  do- 
mestic trade.  The  first  vessel  ever  built  by  Europeans  in 
North  America — after  the  "Virginia  of  Sagadahoc,"  in 
1607 — was  Block's  significantly  named  "Restless  of  Man- 
hattan," in  1614.  One  of  the  largest  merchantmen  in 
Christendom  was  launched  by  her  shipwrights  in  1631. 
Strangers  eagerly  sought  burghership  in  the  rising  me- 
tropolis, and  the  tongues  of  many  nations  resounded 
through   her  ancient  winding    streets,  f      Like  her  pro- 

*  Albany  Records,  IV.  91;  Brodhead,  I.  547;  Bancroft,  II.  294. 

t  Col.  Doc,  I.  296,  III.  17;  Brodhead,  I.  14,  55,  212,  215,  219,  374,548;  ante,  p.  11. 


18  Commemorative  Oration. 

totype,    New    Amsterdam    was    always    a    city    of   the 
world. 

The  Province  of  New  Netherland  was,  indeed,  the 
most  advantageously  situated  region  in  North  America. 
Its  original  limits  included  all  the  Atlantic  coast  between 
Cape  Henlopen  and  Montauk  Point,  and  even  farther  east 
and  north,  and  all  the  inland  territory  bounded  by  the 
Connecticut  Valley  on  the  east,  the  Saint  Lawrence  and 
Lake  Ontario  on  the  north,  and  the  affluents  of  the  Ohio, 
the  Susquehanna,  and  the  Delaware,  on  the  west  and 
south.  Within  those  bounds  is  the  only  spot  on  the  con- 
tinent whence  issue  divergent  streams  which  find  their 
outlets  in  the  Gulf  of  Saint  Lawrence,  the  Atlantic  Ocean, 
and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.*  Across  the  surface  of  the 
Province  runs  a  chain  of  the  Alleghanies,  through  which, 
in  two  remarkable  chasms,  the  waters  of  the  Delaware 
and  the  Hudson  flow  southward  to  the  sea.  At  the  head 
of  its  tides,  the  Hudson,  which  its  explorers  appropriately 
called  "the  Great  River  of  the  Mountains,"  receives  the 
current  of  the  Mohawk,  rushing  in  from  the  west. 
Through  the  valleys  of  these  rivers,  and  across  the  neigh- 
boring lakes,  the  savage  natives  of  the  country  tracked 
those  pathways  of  travel  and  commerce  which  civilized 
science  only  adopted  and  improved,  f  Along  their  banks 
soon  grew  up  flourishing  villages,  contributing  to  the 
prosperity  of  the  chief  town,  which,  with  unerring  judg- 
ment, had  been  planted  on  the  ocean- washed  island  of 
Manhattan.  In  addition  to  these  superb  geographical 
peculiarities,  every  variety  of  soil ;  abundant  mineral 
wealth ;  nature,  grand,  beautiful,  and  picturesque,  and 
teeming  with  vegetable  and  animal  life  ;  and  a  climate  as 
healthful  as  it  is  delicious,  made  New  Netherland  the  most 


*  The  water-shed  of  Central  New  York  was  the  seat  of  the  Iroquois  Confedera- 
tion, long  before  European  discovery. 

t  The  Erie  Canal  and  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  follow  the  old  Indian  trails. 


Commemorative  Oration.  19 

attractive  of  all  the  European  colonies  in  America.     From 
the  first  it  was  always  the  chosen  seat  of  empire. 

It  was  the  wise  decree  of  Providence  that  this  magnifi- 
cent region  should  first  be  occupied  by  the  Batavian  race. 
There  was  expanded  the  germ  of  a  mighty  cosmopolitan 
State,  destined  to  exert  a  moral  influence  as  happy  as  the 
physical  peculiarities  of  its  temperate  territory  were 
alluring.  Yet  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  the  Dutch 
Province  were  fatal  to  its  political  life.  The  envy  of  its 
neighbors  was  aroused.  Covetousness  produced  an  irre- 
pressible desire  of  possession,  which  could  be  appeased 
only  by  its  violent  seizure  by  unscrupulous  foes. 

If  at  this  time  Englishmen  had  any  one  national  charac- 
teristic more  strongly  developed  than  another,  it  was 
jealousy  of  the  Dutch.  Strangely,  too,  this  sentiment 
seemed  to  have  grown  with  the  growth  of  Puritanism.  It 
was  enough  for  the  British  islander  that  the  continental 
Hollander  spoke  a  language  different  from  his  own.  It 
mattered  not  that  Coster,  of  Haerlem,  invented  the  art  of 
arts  ;  or  that  Grotius,  Erasmus,  Hooft,  and  Vondel,  among 
scholars,  and  Boerhaave  and  Huygens,  among  philoso- 
phers, and  Rembrandt,  and  Cuyp,  and  Wouverman, 
among  painters,  were  illustrious  sons  of  the  liberal  Repub- 
lic. Even  William  the  Silent  and  Barneveldt  were  of  little 
account  among  insular  Britons — "  divided  from  all  the  rest 
of  the  world.  "*  Coarse  wit  and  flippant  ridicule  were 
continually  employed  in  educating  the  Englishman  to  un- 
dervalue and  dislike  the  Hollander.  On  the  other  hand, 
Holland,  at  the  zenith  of  her  power,  was  not  jealous  of 
England.  The  Dutch  maxim  was  "Live  and  let  live" 
Both  nations  were  fairly  matched  in  military  and  naval 

•*-•  Toto  divisos  orbe  Britannos,''''  Virg.  Ec,  I.  67.     Dryden,  in  his  translation  of 
Virgil,  describes  bis  early  countrymen  as — 

"A  race  of  men  from  all  the  world  disjoined.'' 


20  Commemorative  Oration. 

strength.  During  the  period  of  the  English  Common- 
wealth, the  only  opportunity  had  occurred  of  testing 
against  each  other  the  skill  of  their  admirals  and  the  valor 
of  their  seamen.  If  Blake  and  Ayscue  maintained  the 
honor  of  their  flag,  De  Ruyter  won  equal  glory,  and  Tromp 
placed  a  broom  at  his  mast-head,  in  token  that  he  had 
swept  the  channel  clear  of  English  ships.  Both  nations 
were  Protestant,  and  each  had  learned  to  respect  the  pro- 
verbial courage  of  the  other.  But  the  commerce  of  the 
Dutch  Republic  was  now  the  vastest  in  the  world. 

"  The  Sun  but  seemed  the  labourer  of  the  year  : 
Each  waxing  Moon  supplied  her  watery  store, 

To  swell  those  tides  which  from  the  line  did  bear 
Their  brim-full  vessels  to  the  Belgian  shore."* 

Such  splendid  prosperity  of  a  rival,  the  selfishness  of 
England  could  not  brook  ;  and  Dry  den  took  care  to  stimu- 
late the  envy  of  his  countrymen  when  he  wrote  of  the 
Hollanders : 

"As  Cato  fruits  of  Afric  did  display, 
Let  us  before  our  eyes  their  Indies  lay : 
All  loyal  English  will  like  him  conclude — 
Let  Caesar  live,  and  Carthage  be  subdued. "t 

This  sentiment  of  jealousy  accompanied  the  English 
colonists  to  America,  and  even  burned  more  fiercely  in 
some  parts  of  the  wilderness.  The  motives  to  their  emi- 
gration were  various.  The  communities  which  they 
founded  were  dissimilar.  Virginia  was  occupied  by 
Royalists,  who  admired  the  hierarchy  ;  New  England  by 
Puritans,  who  abhorred  prelacy  ;  Maryland  by  larger- 
minded  Roman  Catholics.  But  all  these  were  Britons — 
naturally  selfish,  exclusive,  and  overbearing — who,  with 
marked  differences  in  creeds  and  fashions,  were  still  the 
subjects  of  a  common  sovereignty,  and,  as  such,  felt  a 

*  Dry  den's  Annus  Mirabilis,  1666. 
$  Satire  on  the  Dutch,  1662. 


Commemorative  Oration.  21 

common  enmity  against  the  colonists  of  that  nation  which 
was  the  successful  rival  of  their  own. 

This  antipathy,  however,  was  not  equally  strong  in  all 
the  English  colonies.  It  was  slight  in  Virginia  ;  it  waxed 
hotter  in  Maryland  ;  while  it  Hazed  into  malignant  envy 
in  New  England.  Between  Virginia  and  New  Netherland, 
the  relations  had  almost  always  been  friendly,  because 
neither  had  injured,  while  each  had  benefited  the  other. 
With  Maryland,  embarrassing  questions  had  arisen  re- 
specting the  occupation  of  the  Delaware  by  the  Dutch  and 
the  Swedes.  But  from  the  time  of  the  first  intercourse 
between  Manhattan  and  New  Plymouth,  the  Puritan 
emigrants  pertinaciously  insisted  that  the  Dutch  colonists 
of  New  Netherland  were  "  intruders"  into  New  England. 
With  inconsistent  reasoning,  but  characteristic  assurance, 
they  maintained  their  own  title  under  the  patent  of  1620, 
while  they  denied  that  of  the  Hollanders,  which  was  re- 
cognized in  its  proviso.*  Gradually  they  crowded  on 
westward  of  the  Connecticut  River,  until,  in  1650,  it  was 
agreed  between  Stuyvesant  and  the  New  England  authori- 
ties that  the  eastern  boundary  of  New  Netherland  should 
be  Oyster  Bay  on  Long  Island,  and  a  line  running  northerly 
from  Greenwich  on  the  continent.  Mainly  through  their 
representations,  Cromwell  directed  an  expedition  to  wrest 
from  the  Dutch  Republic  its  American  Territory.  But,  by 
the  treaty  of  1654,  the  Protector  virtually  conceded  New 
Netherland  to  Holland.  The  States- General,  in  1656, 
ratified  the  colonial  boundary  agreement  of  1650  ;  but  the 
British  Government  avoided  any  action  on  the  subject, 
and  the  Dutch  Province  continued,  for  a  while  longer,  to 
be  what  New  England  writers  have  pertly  called  "  a  thorn 
in  the  side."f 


*  See  ante,  p.  13 ;  Appendix,  Xote  B. 

tN.  Y.  Col.  Doc.,  I.  283-293,  364,  451,  458,  460,  464,  471,  475,  486,  487,  541,  548, 
556-575,  610-612 ;  Brodhead,  I.  519,  520,  544,  545,  586,  601,  602 ;  Palfrey,  II.  372. 


22  Commemorative  Oration. 

In  the  history  of  States,  might  generally  overbears  right. 
Of  this  fate  New  Netherland  was  a  conspicuous  example. 
While  Maryland  threatened  on  the  South,  Connecticut, 
which  had  constantly  encroached  westward  along  the 
Sound,  procured,  in  1662,  from  the  heedless  King  of 
England,  a  patent  which  covered  a  large  part  of  the  Dutch 
Province,  the  inhabitants  of  which  she  did  not  scruple  to 
describe  as  her  ' '  noxious  neighbours. ' '  Under  this  patent, 
Connecticut  extended  her  jurisdiction  as  far  as  West- 
chester on  the  mainland,  and  over  nearly  the  whole  of 
Long  Island.  Attempts  were  even  made,  under  the  lead 
of  Captain  John  Scott,  to  reduce  the  suburban  Dutch  vil- 
lages of  Brooklyn,  Midwout  or  Flatbush,  Amersfoort, 
New  Utrecht,  and  Bushwick.  To  these  bold  encroach- 
ments Stuyvesant  could  offer  only  a  feeble  resistance. 
Justice  and  weight  of  argument  were  on  his  side,  but  his 
adversaries  had  the  decisive  advantage  of  superior  num- 
bers. The  most  that  could  be  done  was  to  put  the  Dutch 
capital  in  a  condition  of  defence  against  any  attack  of  a 
colonial  enemy.  The  danger  which  menaced  the  Province 
induced  the  Director  to  resort  to  the  people,  as  he  and  his 
predecessor  had  been  obliged  to  call  on  them  before.  A 
Landtdag,  or  Assembly  of  deputies  from  the  several  towns, 
was  accordingly  convened  at  New  Amsterdam,  in  the 
spring  of  1664.  It  was  there  determined  that,  without  aid 
from  the  home  government,  it  would  be  impossible  to 
regain  the  towns  on  Long  Island  which  the  English,  who 
were  six  to  one,  had  usurped  from  the  Dutch.  Repeated 
appeals  had  been  sent  to  the  West  India  Company  for 
re-enforcements,  by  which  alone  could  the  rest  of  New 
Netherland  be  preserved  to  Holland.  Its  population  was 
now  full  ten  thousand,  and  that  of  New  Amsterdam  about 
fifteen  hundred.  In  spite  of  the  clouds  which  lowered 
around  the  narrowing  horizon  of  the  Province,  Stuyvesant 
hopefully  looked  forward  to  its  becoming  still  more  profi- 


Commemorative  Oration.  23 

table  to  the  Fatherland,  and  urged  upon  the  company 
that  its  waste  lands,  which  could  feed  a  hundred  thousand 
inhabitants,  should  be  peopled  at  once  by  the  oppressed 
Protestants  of  France,  Say oy,  and  Germany.  * 

Yet  the  perilous  condition  of  New  Netherland  was  not 
rightly  appreciated  in  Holland.  It  had  been  unwisely 
intrusted  to  the  government  of  a  great  commercial  mo- 
nopoly, which  thought  more  of  its  failing  corporate  in- 
terests than  of  those  of  the  nation,  or  of  its  colonists  in 
America.  When,  at  length,  the  danger  which  threatened 
the  Province  could  not  be  disregarded,  the  States-General 
took  insufficient  measures  to  confirm  their  power  there. 
In  January,  1664,  they  desired  the  British  Government  to 
order  the  restitution  of  all  places  which  the  King' s  sub- 
jects had  usurped  from  the  Hollanders  in  New  Netherland, 
and  the  cessation  of  further  aggressions. f  But  Sir  George 
Downing,  the  English  ambassador  at  the  Hague,  who 
Avas  one  of  the  earliest,  ablest,  and  most  disreputable 
graduates  from  Harvard  College  in  Massachusetts,  could 
not  forget  the  prejudices  he  had  imbibed,  and  startled  the 
Grand  Pensionary  De  Witt  by  claiming  that  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  Dutch  Province  were  "  the  incroachers  "  upon 
New  England.:): 

Downing' s  words  were  full  of  ominous  import.  The 
Restoration  of  King  Charles  the  Second  was  the  prognostic 
of  the  fate  of  New  Netherland.  One  of  the  first  acts  of 
his  reign  was  to  appoint  a  Council  for  Foreign  Planta- 
tions, with  orders  to  render  "  those  dominions  useful  to 
England,  and  England  helpful  to  them."  This  was  the 
key  to  the  British  colonial  policy.  A  new  Navigation 
Law  was  passed,  more  effectually  to  cripple  Dutch  com- 

*  N.  Y.  Col.  Doc,  II.  234,  248,  368,  374,  389-409,  512;  Valentine's  Manual,  1860, 
592;  Trumbull's  Connecticut,  I.  249,  252,  265,  513;  Brodhead,  I.  317,  325,  474,  475, 
559,  695,  702,  703,  719,  722,  723,  726,  728,  729,  733,  734;  Appendix,  note  G. 

t  Col.  Doc,  II.  227;  Brodhead,  I.  730. 

X  Lister's  Clarendon,  III.  276;  Col.  Doc,  II.  416-418,  note. 


24  Commemorative  Oration. 

merce  "by  excluding  all  foreign  vessels  from  trading  with 
any  of  the  English  colonies  in  Asia,  Africa,  or  America. 
Soon  afterwards,  Lord  Stirling  complained  that  the  Dutch 
had  intruded  into  Long  Island,  which  had  been  conveyed 
to  his  grandfather,  and  prayed  that  they  might  be  subdued 
or  expelled.  While  this  subject  was  under  the  considera- 
tion of  the  Plantation  Council,  it  was  found  that  the  Navi- 
gation Act  was  disregarded  or  evaded  in  the  English- 
American  colonies.  The  trade  carried  on  between  New 
Netherland  and  Virginia,  Maryland,  and  New  England, 
was  reported  to  be  a  loss  to  the  King  of  many  thousand 
pounds  a  year.  A  more  stringent  Navigation  Law  was 
therefore  enacted.  Still  the  forbidden  intercolonial  traffic 
was  continued.  The  statute  could  not  be  enforced  as  long 
as  New  Netherland  remained  a  Dutch  Province.  It  was 
necessary  to  the  success  of  that  most  intensely  selfish  law 
that  New  Netherland  should  be  under  the  government  of 
England,  and  it  was  determined  that  it  should  be  reduced 
to  subjection.* 

The  easiest  way  to  sustain  this  characteristic  logic  was 
to  insist  that  the  Dutch  Province  was  the  true  inheritance 
of  the  English  King.  Under  this  pretence,  the  means  to 
obtain  its  possession  could  be  mildly  called  a  Resumption 
rather  than  a  Usurpation.  The  Dutch  title  to  their  Prov- 
ince, although,  in  the  judgment  of  Louis  the  Fourteenth 
himself,  it  was  "  the  best  founded, "f  was  as  little  regarded 
by  Charles  the  Second  as  the  injunctions  of  the  Decalogue. 
Notwithstanding  the  rule  asserted  by  Queen  Elizabeth, 
and  confirmed  by  Parliament ;  the  proviso  in  the  Patent 
of  James  the  First,  and  the  continuous  occupation  of  New 
Netherland  by  Hollanders,  Lord  Chancellor  Clarendon, 
under  the  instigation  of  Downing,  was  not  ashamed  to 
pronounce  that  they  had  "no  colour  of  right"  to  its  pos- 

*  Col.  Doc,  III.  35,  40-50;  Brodhead,  I.  686,  702,  725,  735. 
t  D'Estrades's  Letters,  &c,  III.  340. 


Commemorative  Oration.  25 

session.*  Clarendon  then  purchased  for  his  son-in-law, 
James,  Duke  of  York  and  Albany,  Lord  Stirling's  claim 
to  Pemaquid  and  Long  Island,  and  advised  the  King  to 
grant  a  new  Patent  to  the  Duke,  including  those  regions, 
together  with  all  the  Dutch  territory  on  the  mainland,  f 

Accordingly,  on  the  Twelfth  of  March,  1664,  Charles 
granted,  under  the  Great  Seal,  to  his  brother  James,  a 
part  of  Maine,  the  whole  of  Long  Island,  Martha' s  Vine- 
yard and  Nantucket,  and  the  Hudson  River,  with  all  the 
mainland  from  the  west  side  of  the  Connecticut  to  the  east 
side  of  Delaware  Bay.  The  Grant  included  all  those  por- 
tions of  the  present  States  of  Connecticut  and  Massachu- 
setts lying  west  of  the  Connecticut  River,  as  well  as  the 
whole  of  Vermont  and  New  Jersey.  His  Patent  invested 
the  Duke  with  "full  and  absolute  power'  to  govern  all 
English  subjects,  inhabiting  this  territory,  according  to 
English  law,  and  authorized  him  or  his  agents  to  expel  by 
force  all  persons  who  might  dwell  there  without  his  special 
license.  It  was  the  most  impudent,  as  it  was  the  most 
despotic  instrument  ever  recorded  in  the  Colonial  Archives 
of  Great  Britain.;): 

This  action  of  Charles  the  Second  was  not,  however, 


*  Lister's  Clarendon,  III.  347. 

t  Col.  Doc.,  III.  225,  606,  607,  V.  330,  VII.  431;  Duer's  Life  of  Stirling,  37,38. 

%  See  Patent  at  length  in  the  State  Library  at  Albany ;  in  Book  of  Patents  in  Secre- 
tary's Office,  I.  109-115;  in  Learning  and  Spicer's  Grants  and  Concessions,  3-8;  and 
in  N.  Y.  Colonial  Documents,  II.  295-298.  See  also  Col.  Doc,  VII.  597,  and  VIII. 
107,  436,  for  description  of  the  territory  granted.  If  this  Patent  was  good  as  far  as 
it  related  to  the  territory  in  Maine,  Long  Island,  Martha's  Vineyard,  and  Nantucket, 
which  the  English  already  possessed,  it  was  certainly  invalid  in  regard  to  the  Dutch 
Province,  of  which  the  grantor  never  had  possession.  Even  Chalmers,  in  his  Politi- 
cal Annals,  p.  579,  says,  that  "As  the  validity  of  the  grant  to  the  Duke  of  York, 
while  the  Dutch  were  in  quiet  possession  of  the  country,  had  been  very  justly  ques- 
tioned, he  thought  it  prudent  to  obtain  a  new  one,  in  June,  1674."  See  also  Col- 
Doc,  V.  596,  VII.  596,  597.  It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  by  his  first  Patent,  of  12 
March,  1664,  the  Duke  was  authorized  to  govern  only  English  subjects  inhabiting  his 
territory;  and  that  in  his  second  Patent,  of  29  June,  1374,  the  words,  uor  any  other 
person  or  persons"  were  added;  see  Col.  Doc,  II.  296,  and  Learning  and  Spicer, 
5  and  42.  After  obtaining  possession  of  New  Netherland,  therefore,  the  Duke 
could  not  govern  its  Dutch  inhabitants  unless  as  British  subjects ;  but  he  could 
expel  them  if  they  remained  there  without  his  permission. 


26  COMMEMORATIVE    ORATION. 

influenced  by  any  sympathy  with  the  likes  or  the  dislikes 
of  his  New  England  subjects.  They  had  received  the 
tidings  of  his  Restoration  with  distrust,  and  had  pro- 
claimed him  King  with  peevish  austerity.  If  he  had 
been  induced  to  grant  a  part  of  New  Netherland  to  Con- 
necticut, he  took  pains  to  avoid  his  careless  bounty  by  a 
more  unscrupulous  appropriation  to  his  own  brother. 
The  age  of  Chartered  Oligarchies  had  passed  away. 
Royal  or  Proprietary  Governments  were  thenceforth  to 
enforce  the  British  Colonial  policy.  New  England  was 
now  in  disfavor  at  Whitehall ;  and  the  Duke  of  York 
was  desired  by  the  Privy  Council  to  name  Commissioners, 
whom  the  King  determined  to  send  thither,  to  see  how 
the  several  Colonies  observed  their  Charters,  and  to  settle 
their  differences  about  boundaries.  James  accordingly 
selected  four  persons,  whom  history  has  honored  with  an 
unequal  notoriety.  The  first  was  Colonel  Richard  Nicolls ; 
a  university  scholar,  a  brave  soldier,  and  a  prudent  officer, 
who  had  been  the  Duke' s  companion  in  exile,  and  was 
one  of  the  Grooms  of  his  bedchamber.  The  other  three 
were  Sir  Robert  Carr  and  Colonel  George  Cartwright,  of 
the  Royal  Army,  and  Samuel  Maverick,  a  former  resident 
in  Massachusetts.  These  Commissioners  were  furnished 
with  full  instructions  to  guide  their  conduct  in  America. 
One  of  these  instructions  was,  to  obtain  the  active  assist- 
ance of  the  New  England  Colonies  in  reducing  the  Dutch 
in  New  Netherland  to  subjection.* 

The  Duke  of  York  also  commissioned  Nicolls,  on  the 
second  of  April,  to  be  his  Deputy-Governor  in  the  terri- 
tory which  the  King  had  given  him,  and  execute  all  the 
powers  which  his  Patent  authorized,  f  To  gain  posses- 
sion, by  force  if  necessary,  was  the  next  step.     As  Lord 

*  Col.  Doc,  III.  51-65;  Mass.  H.  S.  Coll.,  XXXII.  2S4;  Notes  and  Queries  (II.), 
III.  214-216. 

t  A  copy  of  the  Duke  of  York's  commission  to  Nicolls  is  in  the  Appendix, 
Note  D. 


Commemorative  Oration.  27 

High  Admiral  of  England,  James  assigned  for  tlie  reduc- 
tion of  New  Netherland  the  frigate  Guinea,  of  thirty-six 
guns,  Captain  Hugh  Hyde ;  the  Elias,  of  thirty,  Cajjtain 
William  Hill ;  the  Martin,  of  sixteen,  Captain  Edward 
Grove ;  and  a  chartered  transport,  the  William  and  Nicho- 
las, of  ten,  Captain  Thomas  Morley.  Early  in  May  the 
Royal  Commissioners  embarked  in  these  vessels,  with 
about  four  hundred  and  fifty  veteran  soldiers,  forming 
three  full  companies,  commanded  by  Colonels  Nicolls, 
Carr,  and  Cartwright,  under  whom  were  several  other 
commissioned  officers  in  the  British  Army.  Among  these 
were  Captains  Mathias  Nicolls,  Robert  Needham,  Harrj^ 
Norwood,  and  Daniel  Brodhead,  some  of  whom,  intending 
to  settle  themselves  permanently  in  New  Netherland,  after 
its  acquisition,  were  accompanied  by  their  families.  The 
expedition,  which  was  well  provided  with  all  necessaries 
for  war,  set  sail  from  Portsmouth  in  the  middle  of  May, 
with  orders  to  make  its  first  anchorage  in  Gardiner' s  Bay 
at  the  eastern  end  of  Long  Island.* 

These  portentous  movements  did  not  escape  the  atten- 
tion of  the  Dutch  Government  at  the  Hague.  As  early  as 
February,  1664,  Stuyvesant  had  distinctly  warned  the 
West  India  Company  of  the  King's  intended  grant  to  the 
Duke  of  York,  and  that  not  only  Long  Island,  but  the 
whole  Province,  would  be  lost  to  Holland  unless  speedy 
re-enforcements  should  be  sent.  The  Company,  however, 
now  on  the  verge  of  bankruptcy,  replied  with  marvellous 
infatuation,  in  the  following  April,  that  the  Royal  Com- 
missioners were  only  going  to  install  Bishops  in  New 
England,  the  inhabitants  of  which,  who  had  gone  there  to 
escape  Prelacy,  would  rather  live  under  Dutch  authority, 
with  freedom  of  conscience,  than  risk  that  in  order  to  fall 


*  Patents,  III.  43;  Col.  Doc,  II.  243,  445,  501,  III.  70,  104,  117,  149;  Smith's 
New  York,  I.  16;  Clarke's  James  the  Second,  I.  400;  Hazard's  Annals  of  Penn.,  IV. 
31;  Coll.  Ulster  Hist.  Soe.,  I.  51;  Brodhead,  I.  736,  737. 


28  Commemorative  Oration. 

under  a  government  from  which  they  had  formerly  fled. 
This  absurd  letter  had  scarcely  been  dispatched  before  the 
real  object  of  Nicolls's  expedition  was  better  understood. 
Downing  bluntly  told  De  Witt  that  New  Netherland 
existed  "  only  in  the  maps."*  Prompt  orders  to  De  Euy- 
ter,  who  was  then  on  his  way  to  the  Mediterranean,  might 
have  hurried  his  fleet  to  Manhattan  in  time  to  aid  Stuyve- 
sant  in  repulsing  the  treacherous  force  of  England.  But  a 
purblind  confidence  in  the  honor  of  Charles  the  Second, 
and  an  unjust  estimate  of  the  importance  to  the  Fatherland 
of  its  American  Province,  clouded  the  Grand  Pensionary' s 
judgment.  The  necessary  orders  were  not  sent  to  De 
Euyter,  and  New  Netherland  was  abandoned  to  her  fate. 

A  tedious  voyage  of  ten  weeks  brought  the  squadron  of 
Mcolls  to  Boston.  The  Royal  Commissioners  immedi- 
ately demanded  the  assistance  of  the  New  England  colo- 
nies ;  which  Massachusetts  promised,  with  frugal  reluc- 
tance, while  Connecticut  showed  more  selfish  zeal,  be- 
cause she  hoped  to  secure  Long  Island  to  herself.  Piloted 
by  JBoston  mariners,  the  English  ships  then  sailed  for  the 
mouth  of  the  Hudson ;  and,  on  the  sixteenth  of  August 
(Old  Style),  the  leading  frigate  Guinea,  with  Nicolls  and  his 
colleagues  on  board,  anchored  just  inside  of  Coney  Island, 
at  Nyack,  or  New  Utrecht  Bay,  where  she  was  joined, 
two  days  afterwards,  by  the  other  vessels.  Here  the 
King' s  Commissioners  were  met  by  John  Winthrop,  Sam- 
uel Willys,  and  other  Connecticut  magistrates.  Thomas 
Willett,  also,  appeared  on  the  part  of  New  Plymouth. 
John  Scott  was  likewise  at  hand,  with  a  force  "  pressed"  at 
New  Haven.  The  train-bands  of  Southold,  and  the  other 
English  towns  at  the  eastern  end  of  Long  Island,  under 
John  Younge,  soon  increased  the  threatening  array. 
Northern  Indians  and  French   rovers   were  held  as  re- 

*  Col.  Doc,  II.  234,  235,  236,  367,  408,  493;  Lister's  Clarendon,  III.  307,  320. 


Commemorative  Oration,  29 

serves.  Thomas  Qlarke  and  John  Pynchon  hastened  from 
Massachusetts  to  the  Royal  Commissioners ;  but  as  there 
was  already  gathered  an  overpowering  strength,  the  ser- 
vices of  the  auxiliaries  promised  by  that  Colony  were  not 
required.* 

The  harbor  of  New  Amsterdam  was  at  once  blockaded, 
and  the  Long  Island  farmers  were  forbidden  to  furnish 
supplies  to  the  City.  A  Proclamation  was  issued  by  the 
Royal  Commissioners,  on  the  twentieth  of  August,  pro- 
mising that  all  persons,  of  any  nation,  who  would  submit 
to  the  King's  Government,  should  peaceably  enjoy  their 
estates,  "and  all  other  privileges,  with  His  Majesty's 
English  subjects."  The  inhabitants  of  Long  Island  were 
specially  summoned  to  meet  the  Commissioners  at  Graves- 
end,  a  few  days  afterwards.  Large  numbers  accordingly 
attended,  when  Mcolls  published  the  Duke  of  York's 
Patent  and  his  own  Commission,  and  demanded  their  sub- 
mission to  his  authority.  Winthrop,  as  Governor  of  Con- 
necticut, declared  that,  as  the  King's  pleasure  was  now 
made  known,  the  claim  of  that  Colony  to  the  Island  ceased. 
Mcolls,  on  his  part,  promised  to  confirm  all  the  then  offi- 
cers in  their  places,  and  call  an  Assembly,  where  laws 
should  be  enacted.  This  assurance  quelled  opposition. 
Long  Island,  inhabited  chiefly  by  English  subjects,  sub- 
mitted at  once  to  the  Government  of  the  Duke  of  York ; 
and  the  militia  from  its  eastern  towns,  under  Younge, 
joining  with  the  New  England  auxiliaries,  marched  from 
Amersfoort  and  Flatbush  towards  Brooklyn,  to  assist  the 
Royal  expedition  in  reducing  New  Amsterdam.! 

Lulled  into  a  false  security  by  the  unhappy  letter  of  the 


*  Mass.  Rec,  IV.  (II.)  117-128,  141,  149,  157-168;  N.  Y.  General  Entries,  I.  2-7, 
29;  Col.  Doc.,  II.  372,  410,  414,  433,  501,  III.  65,  66,  84;  New  Haven  Rec.,  II.  550; 
Thompson's  Long  Island,  I.  127;  Trumbull's  Conn.,  I.  267;  Morton's  Memorial, 
311,  note ;  Appendix,  Note  H. 

+  Col.  Doc,  II.  410,  414,  434,  438,  443,  501;  Oyster  Bay  Rec,  A.  19;  N.  Y.  Gen. 
Ent.,  I.  7,  8;  Thompson,  1. 124,  II.  323,  328. 


30  Commemorative  Oration. 

West  India  Company  and  certain  contradictory  statements 
of  Willett,  Stuyvesant  had  meanwhile  suspended  the 
measures  which  he  had  begun  to  take  for  the  defence  of 
the  Capital,  and  had  gone  up  to  Fort  Orange,  to  repress 
some  hostilities  that  had  broken  out  among  the  savages  in 
its  neighborhood.  On  learning  the  approach  of  the  Eng- 
lish forces,  the  Director  hurried  back  to  New  Amsterdam, 
which  he  reached  on  the  fifteenth  of  August — or  the 
twenty-fifth,  according  to  the  New  Style — only  one  day  be- 
fore the  Guinea  Frigate  anchored  at  Nyack,  in  the  lower 
Bay.  In  concert  with  the  Municipal  authorities,  every 
possible  measure  was  taken  for  the  defence  of  the  Metro- 
polis. All  the  inhabitants,  without  exception,  were  or- 
dered to  labor  in  strengthening  the  ' '  old  and  rotten  pali- 
sades," which  could  hardly  be  called  fortifications;  a 
constant  guard  was  established  ;  the  brewers  were  forbid- 
den to  malt  any  grain  ;  and  heavy  guns,  furnished  by  the 
Director,  were  mounted  on  the  indefensible  works.  But 
the  condition  of  the  City  was  hopeless.  The  Harbor  was 
soon  effectually  blockaded  by  the  British  squadron.  No 
aid  could  be  obtained  from  Long  Island.  The  regular 
garrison  in  Fort  Amsterdam  did  not  exceed  one  hundred 
and  fifty  men,  and  its  supply  of  powder  was  very  short. 
Its  low  earthen  walls,  originally  built  to  resist  an  attack 
of  the  savages,  might  have  been  sufficient  against  any 
Colonial  force,  but  could  not  be  held  against  the  ships  and 
the  veterans  of  Mcolls.  The  Director  had,  long  before, 
expressed  his  military  opinion,  that  "whoever  by  water  is 
master  of  the  river,  will  be,  in  a  short  time,  master  by 
land  of  the  feeble  fortress."  The  anticipated  contin- 
gency had  now  actually  happened,  and  hostile  English 
ships  were  in  full  command  of  the  port.  The  burghers, 
of  whom  only  two  hundred  and  fifty  were  able  to  bear 
arms,  thought  more  of  protecting  their  own  property,  and 
of  obtaining  favorable  terms  of  capitulation,  than  of  de- 


Commemorative  Oration.  31 

fending  their  open  town  against  the  overwhelming  supe- 
riority of  the  invaders.  The  whole  City  force,  placed 
man  by  man,  four  rods  apart,  could  not  guard  its  hastily- 
built  "little  breastwork."* 

Nevertheless,  Stuyvesant  determined  to  hold  out  to  the 
last.  To  the  peremptory  summons  of  Mcolls,  he  opposed 
as  able  a  vindication  of  the  Dutch  title  tof]N~ew  Netherland 
as  the  most  experienced  publicist  could  have  drawn. 
This  was  conveyed  to  Gravesend  on  Tuesday,  the  twenty- 
third  of  August — or  the  second  of  September,  according 
to  the  New  Style — by  four  of  the  most  trusted  advisers  of 
the  Provincial  and  the  City  Governments,  who  were  in- 
structed to  "  argue  the  matter"  with  the  English  Com- 
mander. But  reasoning  was  useless  in  the  absence  of 
De  Ruyter.  Avoiding  discussion,  Nicolls  answered  that 
the  question  of  right  did  not  concern  him,  but  must  be 
decided  by  the  King  of  England  and  the  States-General. 
He  was  determined  to  take  the  place ;  and  if  the  reason- 
able terms  he  had  offered  were  not  accepted,  he  would 
attack  the  City,  for  which  purpose,  at  the  end  of  forty- 
eight  hours,  he  would  bring  his  forces  up  nearer.  "On 
Thursday,  the  fourth,"  he  added,  "I  will  speak  with  you 
at  the  Manhattans."  The  Dutch  deputies  replied: 
"Friends  will  be  welcome  if  they  come  in  a  friendly 
manner."  "I  shall  come  with  my  ships  and  soldiers," 
said  Mc oils,  "and  he  will  be  a  bold  messenger,  indeed, 
who  shall  then  dare  to  come  on  board  and  solicit  terms." 
To  the  demand  of  Stuyvesant' s  delegates :  "  What  then  is 
to  be  done  ?"  he  answered,  "Hoist  the  white  flag  of  peace 
at  the  Fort,  and  then  I  may  take  something  into  consider- 
ation !"f 

*Col.  Doc,  II.  248,  372,  410,  432,  434,  438,  439,  440,  441,  443,  446,  475,  494,  505; 
•Val.  Man.,  I860,  592,  1861,  603-605;  New  Amsterdam  Records,  V.  552-554,  567-570; 
Albany  Records,  XVIII.  319;  Letter  of  Domine  Samuel  Drisius,  of  15  September, 
1664;  Appendix,  Notes  G.  and  H. 

tCol.  Doc,  II.  411-114;  Smith,  I.  18-26;  Hazard's  Reg.  Penn.,  IV.  31,  41,  42; 


32  Commemorative  Oration. 

Nicolls,  indeed,  had  no  wish  to  proceed  to  extremities. 
His  summons  was  imperious,  but  his  policy  was  to  obtain 
a  bloodless  possession  of  the  Dutch  Province.  He  there- 
fore authorized  Winthrop  to  assure  Stuyyesant  that,  if  it 
should  be  surrendered  to  the  King,  there  should  be  free 
intercourse  with  Holland  in  Dutch  vessels,  or  a  virtual 
suspension  of  the  English  navigation  laws.  This  was 
communicated  to  Stuyvesant  at  ~New  Amsterdam,  on  the 
same  day  that  his  messengers  saw  Mcolls  at  Gfravesend. 
But  all  the  persuasions  of  the  Connecticut  Governor  could 
not  move  the  patriotic  Director.  In  vain  did  he  tear  in 
pieces  Winthrop' s  friendly  letter.  The  people,  who  soon 
learned  the  liberal  offers  of  the  English,  became  mutinous ; 
work  on  the  fortifications  ceased ;  complaints  against  the 
West  India  Company  were  freely  uttered ;  and  it  was 
pronounced  impossible  to  defend  the  City,  ' '  seeing  that 
to  resist  so  many  was  nothing  else  than  to  gape  before  an 
oven."* 

Perceiving  that  Stuyvesant  was  disposed  to  hold  out, 
Nicolls  ordered  the  squadron  to  move  up  from  their  an- 
chorage near  Gfravesend,  and  reduce  the  Dutch  "under 
His  Majesty's  obedience."  Again  messengers  came  down 
from  New  Amsterdam,  proposing  a  cessation  of  hostilities, 
and  the  appointment  of  Commissioners  to  treat  about  "a 
good  accommodation."  The  English  commander  replied 
that  he  would  willingly  appoint  Commissioners  "to  treat 
upon  Articles  of  Surrender."  At  the  solicitation  of  the 
Dutch  delegates,  orders  were  given  that  the  ships  should 
not  precipitately  fire  on  the  city.     But  Nicolls  declined 

Val.  Man.,  1880,   592;  Albany  Records,  XVIII.  319,  320,    XXII.  317;  Appendix, 
Note  G. 

*Gen.  Ent.,  I.  12;  Mass.  H.  S.  Coll.,  XXXVI.  527-529;  Col.  Doc.,  II.  444,  445, 
476.  The  original  draft  of  Winthrop' s  letter  to  Stuyvesant,  of  22  August  (1  Sep- 
tember), 1664,  with  the  autograph  approval  of  the  Royal  Commissioners,  Nicolls, 
Carr,  and  Cartwright,  is  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Benjamin  Robert  Winthrop,  one 
of  the  Vice-Presidents  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society,  who  is  a  lineal  descend- 
ant of  both  the  Dutch  and  Connecticut  Governors. 


Commemorative  Oration.  83 

their  request  that  the  troops  should  not  be  brought  up 
nearer.  "  To-day  I  shall  arrive  at  the  Ferry,"  he  added, 
— "  to-morrow  we  can  agree  with  one  another/'* 

On  Thursday,  the  twenty-fifth  of  August  (or  the  fourth 
of  September),  the  British  infantry,  consisting  of  three 
companies  of  regular  soldiers,  eager  for  loot,  were  ac- 
cordingly landed  at  Gravesend,  whence  Nicolls  marched 
at  their  head  to  "the  Ferry,"  at  Brooklyn,  where  the 
New  England  and  Long  Island  militia  were  already 
posted.  Two  of  the  frigates  then  sailed  up  the  Bay,  and 
anchored  near  "Nutten,"  or  Governor's  Island.  The 
other  two — coming  on  with  full  sail,  and  all  their  guns,  of 
one  battery,  ready  to  pour  their  broadsides  on  the  "open 
place,"  if  any  hostilities  should  be  begun  against  them — 
passed  in  front  of  Fort  Amsterdam,  and  anchored  above 
the  City.  Watching  their  approach  from  a  parapet  of 
the  Fort,  Stuyvesant  was  about  to  order  his  gunner  to 
fire  on  the  enemy,  when  the  two  Domines  Megapolensis, 
leading  him  away  between  them,  persuaded  him  not  to 
begin  hostilities.  Leaving  fifty  men  in  the  Fortress,  under 
the  command  of  the  Fiscal  De  Sille,  the  Director,  at  the 
head  of  one  hundred  of  the  garrison,  marched  out  into 
the  City,  in  order  to  prevent  the  English  from  attempting 
to  land  "here  and  there. "f 

By  this  time  the  Dutch  garrison  in  Fort  Amsterdam  had 
become  "demoralized."  They  openly  talked  of  "where 
booty  is  to  be  got,  and  where  the  young  women  live  who 
wear  chains  of  gold."  Reports  also  came  from  Long 
Island,  that  the  New  England  levies  declared  that  "their 
business  was  not  only  with  New  Netherland,  but  with  the 
booty  and  plunder."     Their  threats  caused  the  burghers 

*  Gen.  Ent.,  I.  13,  14,  15,  21,  22,  27,  28;  Alb.  Rec,  XVIII.  321;  Col.  Doc,  II. 
414;  Hazard's  Reg.  Perm.,  IV.  31,  42,  43;  Smith,  I.  27;  S.  Smith's  New  Jersey,  40, 
41,  42;  Brodhead,  I.  740. 

t  Col.  Doc.,  II.  414,  422,444,  445,  501,  502,  503,  508,  509;  Val.  Man.,  1860,  592; 
Letter  of  Drisius;  Appendix,  Notes  G.  and  H. 

3 


M  CO  MM  EM  0  HA  TI VE     OKA  TI  ON. 

of  New  Amsterdam  to  look  upon  them  as  "deadly  ene- 
mies, who  expected  nothing  else  than  pillage,  plunder, 
and  bloodshed."  Moreover,  it  was  understood  that  six 
hundred  Northern  Indians,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty 
French  privateersmen,  with  English  commissions,  had 
offered  their  services  against  the  Dutch.  Seeing  that  it 
was  impossible  to  defend  the  place,  the  whole  population 
of  which  was  only  fifteen  hundred,  against •  a  powerful 
squadron  and  more  than  a  thousand  well-armed  foes, 
the  municipal  authorities,  the  clergy,  the  officers  of  the 
burgher-guard,  and  most  of  the  leading  citizens,  joined  in 
a  Remonstrance,  drafted  by  the  elder  Domine  Megapo- 
lensis,  urging  the  Director  and  Council  to  accept  the  terms 
offered  by  the  English  commander.  His  threats,  it  stated, 
u  would  not  have  been  at  all  regarded,  could  your  Honors, 
or  we  your  Petitioners,  expect  the  smallest  aid  or  succour. 
But,  God  help  us !  whether  we  turn  for  assistance  to  the 
north  or  to  the  south,  to  the  east  or  to  the  west,  it  is  all  vain ! 
On  all  sides  we  are  encompassed  and  hemmed  in  by  our 
enemies."  Women  and  children  came  in  tears,  beseech- 
ing Stuyvesant  to  parley.  To  all  their  supplications  he 
replied :  "I  had  much  rather  be  carried  out  dead  !"* 

At  length,  almost  solitary  in  his  heroism,  the  Dutch 
Director  was  obliged  to  yield.  Further  opposition  on 
his  part  would  have  been  unavailing,  and  might  have 
deprived  the  people  of  the  advantages  to  be  gained  by  a 
capitulation.  It  was  some  solace  that  the  English  Com- 
mander, now  encamped  at  the  Brooklyn  Ferry,  u  before 
the  Manhatans,"  voluntarily  offered  to  restore  the  Fort  and 
the  City,  in  case  the  differences  about  boundaries  in  Amer- 
ica should  be  arranged  between  the  King  and  the  States- 
Greneral.  Moreover,  Stuyvesant' s  religion  consoled  him 
with  the  text  in  Saint  Luke,  that  with  ten  thousand  men 

*  Alb.  Rcc,  XVIII.  330,  321 ;  Col.  Doc,  II.  248,  249,  369,  423,  476,  503,  508;  Val. 
Vlau.,  1860,  592;  Letter  of  Drisius;  Appendix,  notes  (J.  and  H. 


CO MME MORA  TI  VE    Oli A  TI 0 V  35 

he  could  not  meet  him  that  came  against  him  with  twenty 
thousand.*  And  if,  in  that  bitter  hour,  the  brave  old 
chief  could  call  to  mind  the  classical  learning  which  he 
had  acquired  in  his  Fatherland,  he  might  well  have  ap- 
plied to  himself  the  sad  words  which  the  shade  of  Hector 
addressed  to  iEneas : 

"  Could  any  mortal  hand  prevent  our  fate, 
This  hand,  and  this  alone,  had  saved  the  State." f 

Six  Commissioners  were  accordingly  appointed  on  each 
side,  on  Friday,  the  twenty-sixth  of  August,  or  fifth  of 
September,  to  settle  the  terms  of  surrender.  Those  on  the 
part  of  the  Dutch  were  John  de  Decker,  Nicholas  Varlett, 
and  Samuel  Megapolensis,  representing  the  Director  and 
Council,  and  Cornells  Steenwyck,  Oloff  Stevensen  van 
Cortlandt,  and  Jacques  Cousseau,  representing  the  City 
authorities.  Besides  his  two  colleagues,  Sir  Robert  Carr 
and  Colonel  George  Cartwright,  Nicolls  chose  John  Win- 
throp  and  Samuel  Willys,  of  Connecticut,  and  Thomas 
Clarke  and  John  Pynchon,  of  Massachusetts,  in  order  to 
engage  those  two  colonies  more  firmly  with  the  Royal 
expedition,  "if  the  Dutch  had  been  over-confident  of  their 
strength."  The  commissioners  on  both  sides  met  at  Stuy- 
vesant's  "Bouwery,"  or  farm,  on  Saturday,  the  twenty- 
seventh  of  August,  or  sixth  of  September,  and  arranged 
the  Articles  of  Capitulation.  All  the  inhabitants  of  New 
Netherland  were  to  continue  free  denizens,  and  were 
guaranteed  their  property  ;  while  the  Dutch  were  to 
enjoy  "  their  own  customs  concerning  their  inheritances,1 ' 
and  "the  liberty  of  their  consciences  in  divine  worship 
and  church  discipline."  Free  trade  with  Holland  was 
stipulated.  The  existing  magistrates  were  to  remain  in 
office  until  their  terms  expired.     The  Articles  of  Capitula- 

*  Gen.  Ent,,  I.  30,  31;  Col.  Doc,  II.  440;  Saint  Luke's  Gospel,  xiv.  31;   Appen- 
dix, note  E. 
t  Pitt's  translation  of  Virgil,  ^Eneid,  II. 


36  CO  MME M  0RAT1VE    OR  A  TI 0  N. 

tion  were  to  be  ratified  on  both  sides,  and  exchanged  on 
the  next  Monday  morning,  at  the  "Old  Mill,"*  on  the 
East  River,  near  what  is  now  the  foot  of  Roosevelt  street, 
when  the  City  and  the  Fort  were  to  be  surrendered,  and 
the  Dutch  garrison  were  to  march  out,  with  arms  shoul- 
dered, drums  beating,  colors  flying,  and  matches  lighted,  f 

These  conciliatory  and  very  advantageous  terms  were 
explained  to  the  citizens  at  the  Town  Hall,  on  the  follow- 
ing Sunday,  at  the  close  of  the  second  service  in  the 
afternoon — the  last  which  was  expected  to  be  celebrated 
under  the  Dutch  flag— in  Kieft's  old  church  in  Fort  Am- 
sterdam. It  was  also  quietly  agreed  between  Stuy  vesant 
and  Nicolls  that  the  New  England  and  Long  Island  auxil- 
iaries should  be  kept  at  the  Ferry,  on  the  Brooklyn 
side  of  the  East  River ;  because  the  burghers  ' '  were 
more  apprehensive  of  being  plundered  by  them  than  by 
the  others.":): 

On  Monday  morning,  the  twenty-ninth  of  August,  or 
eighth  of  September,  Stuyvesant,  having  ratified  the 
Capitulation,  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  his  garrison, 
and  marched  out  of  Fort  Amsterdam  with  all  the  honors 
of  war.  The  Dutch  soldiers,  who  saw  no  enemy,  moved 
sullenly  down  Beaver  street  tb  the  water-side,  whence 
they  were  quickly  embarked  on  the  ship  Gideon  for  Hol- 
land. Colonel  Cart wright,  with  his  company,  now  occu- 
pied the  City  gates  and  the  Town  Hall.  Accompanied  by 
the  Burgomasters,  who  "gave  him  a  welcome  reception," 
Nicolls,  at  the  head  of  his  own  and  Sir  Robert  Carr's  com- 


*  This  "  old  mill"  is  distinctly  marked  on  the  map  which  forms  one  of  the  illus- 
trations to  Valentine's  Manual  for  1863.  It  was  on  the  shore  of  the  East  River,  at 
the  mouth  of  a  brook  running  out  of  the  "  Kolck,"  or  what  is  now  vulgarly  called 
"the  Collect,"  and  it  was  the  nearest  point  to  "the  Ferry,"  at  Brooklyn.  See 
Valentine's  Manuals,  1859,  551,  and  1863, 621 ;  Brodhead,  I.  16?,  note. 

+  Alb.  Rec,  XVIII.  325;  Gen.  Ent.,  I.  23-26,  30-33;  Col.  Doc,  II.  250-253,  414, 
III.  103;  Brodhead,  I.  742,  762,  763;  Hazard's  Reg.  Penn.,  IV.  43,  44;  Appendix, 
note  E. 

%  Alb.  Rec,  XVIII.  323,  324;  Col.  Doc,  II.  445,  446. 


Commemorative  O  rati  ok  37 

panies,  marched  into  the  Fort.  The  English  flag  was  run 
up  ;  the  name  of  the  Fort  was  changed  from  Amsterdam 
to  "James,"  and  the  City  was  ordered  to  be  called  u  New 
York."  A  few  weeks  afterwards  Fort  Orange  was  sur- 
rendered, and  became  "  Albany,"  in  commemoration  of 
the  Scotch  title  of  the  Proprietor.  The  conquered  Prov- 
ince was  named  "New  York."  On  Sunday,  the  second 
or  twelfth  of  October,  sixteen  hundred  and  sixty-four,  the 
Dutch  Fort  at  Newcastle  on  the  Delaware  was  taken  by 
the  English,  and  the  entire  reduction  of  New  Netherland 
was  accomplished.* 

Brothers  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society  : 
Thus  ended,  two  hundred  years  ago,  the  dominion  of 
Holland  over  the  fairest  portion  of  our  continent.  Nine 
years  afterwards,  that  dominion  was  triumphantly  recon- 
quered by  the  Dutch.  But  they  held  it  only  for  a  short 
period ;  and  its  temporary  repossession  by  them  had  no 
important  influence  on  Colonial  affairs.  The  three-colored 
ensign,  f  which  for  half  a  century  had  rightfully  waved 
over  New  Netherland,  was  replaced  by  the  "meteor 
flag;"  and,  from  Virginia  to  New  France,  all  European 
colonists  were  obliged  to  acknowledge  Charles  the  Second 
as  their  King.  His  usurpation  of  New  York  decided  the 
fortunes  of  North  America.  It  prepared  the  way  for  our 
national  independence,  and  our  federal  Union.  The  his- 
tory of  our  own  State  centres  upon  it,  as  the  most  im- 
portant epoch  in  her  colonial  existence.     Let  us  now 

*  Alb.  Rec,  XVIII.  326;  Col.  Doc,  II.  272,  415,  445,  502,  509,  III.  67-73,  346; 
Thompson,  II.  165;  Brodhead,  I.  742-745;  Val.  Man.,  1860,  593;  Appendix,  Notes 
F.  and  G. 

t  The  Dutch  national  ensign  was  adopted  about  the  year  1582,  just  after  their 
Declaration  of  Independence,  at  the  suggestion  of  William  the  Silent,  Prince  of 
Orange.  It  was  composed  of  the  Prince's  colors  — orange,  white,  and  blue  — 
arranged  in  three  equal  horizontal  stripes.  After  the  death  of  William  the  Second 
of  Orange,  in  1650,  the  predominating  influence  of  the  Louvestein,  or  De  Witt  party 
caused  a  red  stripe  to  be  substituted  for  the  ancient  orange ;  and  the  Dutch  flag  at 
this  day  remains  as  it  was  thus  modified  two  centuries  ago :  Brodhead,  I.  19,  note. 


38  Commemorative  Oration. 

contemplate  some  of  the  peculiar  features  and  direct 
consequences  of  this  momentous  event. 

The  conquest  of  New  Netherland  by  the  British  sover- 
eign was  an  act  of  almost  unparalleled  national  baseness. 
It  was  planned  in  secret,  and  was  carried  out  in  deliberate 
treachery  towards  a  friendly  government.  Because  Eng- 
land coveted  New  Netherland,  and  not  because  she  had 
any  just  claim,  she  seized  it  as  a  prize.  It  was  essential 
to  the  success  of  her  colonial  policy  to  secure  that  prize. 
The  whole  transaction  was  eminently  characteristic  of  a 
selfish,  insolent,  and  overbearing  nation.  On  no  other 
principle  than  that  which  frequently  afterwards  stimu- 
lated the  predatory  aggressions  of  Great  Britain  in  India 
and  elsewhere,  can  her  conquest  of  the  Dutch- American 
Province  be  defended.  In  the  utterance  of  this  judgment, 
I  trust  that  a  descendant  of  one  of  the  English  conquerors 
of  New  York  has  not  been  moved  by  any  uncandid  senti- 
ments towards  the  birth-land  of  his  ancestor. 

Yet,  outrageous  as  was  the  deed,  the  temptation  to  com- 
mit it  was  irresistible.  Its  actual  execution  was  only  a 
question  of  time.  Unjustifiable  as  it  was,  the  usurpation 
of  the  English  could  not  have  been  prevented,  unless  the 
Dutch  Government  were  prepared  to  reverse  their  pre- 
vious policy,  and  hold  New  Netherland  at  every  hazard, 
against  the  might  of  all  enemies.  The  Province  of  Hol- 
land and  the  West  India.  Company,  alone,  could  not 
successfully  oppose  England.  The  General  Government 
of  the  United  Netherlands  would  not  take  the  indispen- 
sable action,  because  they  never  rightly  estimated  the 
importance  of  their  American  colony,  and  felt  no  sufficient 
interest  in  its  preservation.  It  was  not  until  the  last 
years  of  their  rule,  that  they  gave  serious  attention  to  the 
necessity  of  measures  for  its  security.  Even  then,  they 
procrastinated  when  they  should  have  acted.  This  ap- 
parent indifference  encouraged  the  monopolizing  purposes 


Commemorative  Oration.  39 

of  British  colonial  statesmanship ;  and  the  Dutch  trans- 
atlantic Province  became  an  easy  prey  to  undeclared  foes, 
who  skulked,  like  pirates  in  time  of  peace,  into  her  chief 
harbor.  War  followed  between  the  Netherlands  and 
England;  but  the  captured  prize  was  never  restored. 
And  so,  New  York  replaced  New  Netherland  on  the 
map  of  the  world. 

But,  even  if  its  importance  had  been  adequately  esti- 
mated in  Holland,  our  State  could  not  have  remained 
much  longer  a  Dutch  Province.  Its  existence  as  such 
would  soon  have  proved  inconvenient  to  all  parties.  It 
was  not  insular,  nor  easy  of  defence.  Its  territory  adjoined 
the  colonial  possessions  of  France,  as  well  as  of  England  : 
and  its  inland  frontier  was  not  defined  by  natural  bounda- 
ries. Sufficient  measures  for  its  protection  against  either 
of  these  powers  would  have  required  larger  expenditures, 
on  the  part  of  the  West  India  Company,  than  commercial 
thrift  might  have  considered  expedient.  The  States- 
General  were  less  interested  in  its  preservation  than  was 
the  impoverished  Corporation,  which  thought  more  of 
revenue  than  of  patriotism.  Moreover,  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment would  soon  have  found  that  another  European 
sovereign,  besides  Charles  the  Second,  viewed  with 
jealousy  the  existence  of  a  Dutch  Province  in  North 
America.  If  England  had  not  seized  New  Netherland 
when  she  did,  France  would  almost  certainly  have  taken 
and  held  it,  not  long  afterwards,  in  the  Second  Dutch  war 
of  1672 ;  and  would  thus  have  accomplished  her  long- 
cherished  design  of  extending  Canada,  from  Lake  Cham- 
plain  southward,  through  the  Valley  of  the  Hudson,  to 
the  ocean  at  Manhattan.  And  had  Louis  the  Fourteenth 
succeeded  in  obtaining  its  possession,  the  subserviency  of 
Charles  and  of  James  would  doubtless  have  so  confirmed 
the  French  power  on  this  continent,  that  neither  the  con- 
quest of   Canada  by  Great  Britain,    nor  the  American 


40  Commemorative  Oration. 

Revolution,  could  have  happened.  Both  these  events 
depended  on  the  fate  of  New  Netherland.  Even  if  the 
Province,  after  its  reconquest  in  1673,  instead  of  being 
finally  ceded  to  England  by  the  Treaty  of  Westminster,  in 
1674,  had  remained  subject  to  Holland  for  fifteen  years 
longer,  until  Englishmen  called  the  Dutch  Stadtholder  to 
their  throne,  the  crisis  would  then  have  come  ;  and  our 
forefathers,  following  the  fortunes  of  their  chief,  .would 
have  spontaneously  proclaimed  William  the  Third  as  their 
King,  with  acclamations  as  triumphant  as  when  they  first 
welcomed  his  short-lived  colonial  authority  with  shouts 
of  "OranjeBoven!"* 

The  terms  of  capitulation  which  Nicolls  offered,  and 
Stuyvesant  accepted,  were,  perhaps,  the  most  favorable 
ever  granted  \>y  a  conqueror.  In  i heory,  the  King  ' '  re- 
sumed his  own."  In  fact,  he  gained  a  foreign  Province 
by  a  conquest,  the  effect  of  which  was  limited  only  by  the 
Articles  of  Surrender.  The  clear  policy  of  the  Duke  of 
York,  as  Proprietor,  was  to  obtain  peaceful  possession  of 
New  JNetherland,  and,  at  the  same  time,  induce  its  Dutch 
inhabitants  to  remain  and  become  loyal  British  subjects. 
His  defective  Patent,  indeed,  authorized  him  to  govern 
such  subjects  only.  The  Articles  of  Capitulation  accord- 
ingly provided  that  the  people  of  the  Dutch  Province 
were  to  continue  free  denizens  of  England.     The  most 


*  The  popular  cry,  "  Oranje  Boven"  appears  to  have  originated  at  Dordrecht,  in 
Holland,  in  1672.  The  partisans  of  the  Prince,  and  soon  chosen  Stadtholder, 
William  the  Third,  who  were  the  opponents  of  the  Brothers  De  Witt,  hoisted  on 
the  tower  of  that  city  an  orange  flag  above  a  white  flag.  On  the  orange  flag  was 
the  inscription,  in  Dutch, 

"  Or  any  e  boven,  de  Witten  onder ; 
Die  H  andern  meend,  die  slaat  den  Donder."1 
Or,  in  English: 

"Orange  above,  the  Whites  under: 

Who  thinks  not  so,  be  struck  by  thunder." 

The  Dutch  word  wit  means  "  white  ;"  hence  de  Witten,  or  "the  De  AVitts,"  signifies 
"the  Whites."  Basnage,  Ann.  Prov.  Ua,  II.  284;  Wagenaar,  Vad.  Hist.,  XIV. 
165;  Daviw's'  Holland,  III.  108. 


CO  MM  EM  0  RA  TI  VE    ()P,  A  TION.  41 

liberal  offers,  to  conciliate  them,  were  made  with  ostenta- 
tious benevolence.  It  is  not  surprising  that  the  Dutch 
colonists,  chagrined  at  the  seeming  indifference  of  the 
authorities  of  their  Fatherland,  and  having  many  causes 
of  complaint  against  their  own  Provincial  Government, 
should  have  generally  accepted  this  change  of  their  rulers 
at  least  calmly  and  hopefully,  if  not  with  positive  satis- 
faction, f 

There  was,  at  all  events,  one  point  on  which  there  was 
almost  universal  acquiescence.  As  a  choice  of  evils,  the 
Dutch  inhabitants  of  New  Netherland  were  far  more  con- 
tent with  becoming  subject  directly  to  the  King  of  Eng- 
land and  the  Duke  of  York,  than  they  would  have  been 
with  the  mastery  of  those  Eastern  neighbors,  who  had 
so  long,  but  so  vainly,  coveted  the  possession  of  their 
Province.  This  feeling  we  have  observed  strongly  ex- 
hibited in  the  very  agony  of  the  surrender.  It  was  a 
natural  feeling.  The  early  colonists  of  our  State  had  but 
little  liking  for  most  of  the  emigrants  to  New  England,  or 
their  characteristics.  If  they  sympathized  with  any  of 
them,  it  was  chiefly  with  the  people  of  tolerant  Rhode 
Island.  The  genial  English  cavalier  was  much  nearer  the 
Hollander' s  heart  than  was  the  ascetic  English  Puritan, 
who  would  not  be  comforted  in  his  exile  by  the  calm 
pleasures  of  a  Leyden  Sunday.  Across  the  Atlantic,  local 
circumstances  produced  deeper  repugnance.  New  York 
and  Massachusetts — rivals  and  antagonists  nearly  from  the 
start — were  colonized  by  men  not  only  of  different  races, 

*  Iu  October,  1664,  a  few  weeks  after  the  surrender,  Governor  Nicolls  required  all 
the  Dutch  inhabitants  to  take  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  King,  and  of  obedience 
to  the  Duke  of  York  and  his  officers,  as  long  as  they  should  live  in  any  of  his 
Majesty's  territories.  The  leading  burghers  of  New  York,  however— fearing  that 
the  proposed  oath  might  "nullify  or  render  void"  the  Articles  of  Capitulation- 
declined  to  swear  it,  until  the  Governor  formally  declared  "  that  the  Articles  of  Sur- 
render are  not  in  the  least  broken,  or  intended  to  be  broken,  by  any  words  or  ex- 
pressions in  the  said  oath."  This  removed  every  doubt,  and  allegiance  was  cordially 
sworn.— Gen.  Ent.,  I.  49,  50;  New  Amst.  Rec,  V.  614-618;  Val.  Man.  1861,605-607*; 
Col.  Doc,  III.  74-77. 


42  Commemorative  Oration. 

but  of  essentially  opposite  ideas.  The  cardinal  principle 
of  the  one  was  comprehensive  liberality ;  the  systematic 
policy  of  the  other  was  Procrustean  rigor.  There  never 
was  a  greater  contrast  in  the  civilized  peoples  of  the  earth. 
Thus  it  happened  that  there  was  almost  constant  enmity 
between  the  Dutch  Province  and  her  Puritan  neighbors. 
This  early  antipathy  was,  doubtless,  largely  increased  by 
those  territorial  encroachments  which  were  so  offensively 
pushed  on  from  the  East.  Yet  the  contrariety  survived 
long  after  the  question  of  boundaries  was  settled.  It 
continued  to  manifest  itself  most  conspicuously,  in  what 
frequently  appeared  to  be  a  meddlesome  and  callous 
obtrusiveness  on  the  one  side,  which  was  met,  on  the 
other,  by  the  decorous  reserve  which  the  rules  of  good 
society  promote.  In  the  end,  it  was  well  that  such  char- 
acteristic differences  existed.  With  more  intimate  associa- 
tion, each  rival  race  learned  to  respect  and  to  value  the 
excellencies  which  distinguished  the  other.  Narrow  pro- 
vincialism grew  more  magnanimous  with  larger  observa- 
tion ;  and  while  but  few  were  found  willing  to  abandon 
the  valleys  of  the  Hudson  and  the  Mohawk,  crowds 
pressed  from  New  England,  in  later  years,  to  irresistibly 
attractive  homes  in  New  York — none  the  less  gladly  be- 
cause of  the  unjealous  greeting  which  welcomed  their 
approach.  The  acute  ingenuity,  anxious  energy,  and 
austere  virtues,  which  were  thus  contributed  by  its  immi- 
grants from  the  East,  blended  admirably  with  the  steady 
industry,  quiet  conservatism,  and  grand  comprehensive- 
ness, which  always  marked  the  pioneers  of  our  own 
State  ;  and  the  combination  has  yielded  results  of  magnifi- 
cent prosperity,  which  God  grant  may  be  perpetual ! 

It  was  for  the  true  interest  of  America  that  New  York 
was  founded  by  the  Batavian  race.  That  founding  pro- 
duced our  own  magnanimous  and  cosmopolitan  State,  the 
influence  of  which  on  our  nation  has  always  been  so  happy 


Commemorative  Oration.  43 

and  so  healthful.  Providence  never  meant  our  variegated 
country  to  be  the  antitype  of  a  single  European  sover- 
eignty. There  probably  never  was  a  population  more 
homogeneous  than  that  of  New  England  in  its  early  days. 
Of  the  twenty  thousand  persons  who,  at  the  end  of  twenty 
years  after  the  first  settlement  at  New  Plymouth,  formed 
its  several  colonies,  nearly  all  were  English  emigrants, 
and  most  of  them  were  Puritans.  For  more  than  a 
century  their  descendants  lived  and  multiplied,  a  distinct 
people,  secluded  from  other  communities  in  a  very  re- 
markable degree.  This  seclusion  generated  or  stimulated 
vehemently  dogmatic  individualism.  It  helped,  very 
powerfully,  to  produce  what  is  sometimes  called  the  "  in- 
tense subjectivity"  of  the  New  England  mind.  There- 
suit  was  legitimate.  The  British  Puritan  loved  true  liberty 
less  than  he  loved  dominion.  He  wished  always  to  do 
what  pleased  himself ;  but  he  longed,  still  more,  to  com- 
pel all  others  to  do  as  he  pleased.  He  was  uneasy  unless 
he  could  domineer.  This  tyrannical  and  unscrupulous, 
but  thoroughly  English  spirit  was  not  softened  by  its 
transplantation  in  America.  It  seems,  on  the  contrary,  to 
have  grown  more  rank,  and  to  have  developed  peculiar 
social  characteristics,  in  the  secluded  New  England  colo- 
nies. Of  these  characteristics,  none  was  more  remarkable 
than  the  system  of  ''mutual  inspection,"  which,  pushed 
to  its  extreme  limits,  would  subject  all  to  a  discipline  as 
galling  as  it  is  unwholesome  and  dwarfing.  "  The  Inqui- 
sition," writes  one  of  Massachusetts'  most  honored  sons, 
"  existed  in  substance,  with  a  full  share  of  its  terrors  and 
its  violence."*  It  is  obvious  that  liberality,  magnanimity, 
and  comprehensiveness,  could  not  flourish  among  a  people 
so  isolated,  and  so  incessantly  occupied  in  brooding  over, 
and  working  out  within  itself,  its  own  problems.  Yet,  I 
would  be  the  last  to  withhold  an  expression  of  sincere 

*  Story's  Miscellanies,  66 ;  Coit's  Puritanism,  218;  Brodhead,  I,  308,331. 


44  Commemorative  Oration. 

respect,  justly  due  to  the  many  sterling  qualities  which 
illustrate  that  renowned  stock,  the  descendants  of  which 
have  exerted  so  wide  and  so  marked  an  influence  through- 
out our  whole  country. 

When  he  emigrated,  however,  the  New  Englander  did 
not  readily  lay  aside  his  native  peculiarities.  He  yearned 
to  propagate  unmodified  his  ingrained  provincialism .  But 
this  lie  could  not  do  in  the  cosmopolitan  atmosphere  of 
New  York.  That  he  could  not,  was  happy  for  our 
country.  It  was  not  her  cramped  destiny  to  perpetuate 
or  reproduce  the  ideas  or  the  policy  of  only  one  of  the 
nationalities  of  the  Qld  World,  or  of  but  one  of  its  planta- 
tions in  the  New.  The  arrogant  claim — so  flattering  to 
British  pride,  so  sycophantic  in  Americans  who  would 
flatter  England — that  the  United  States  of  America  are  of 
wholly  Anglo-Saxon  origin,  is  as  fallacious  as  it  is  vulgar. 
• '  Time' s  noblest  offspring ' '  was  not  the  child  of  England 
alone.  There  was  a  Fatherland,  as  fruitful  as  the  Mother- 
land. There  were  many  parents  of  our  multigenerous 
people.  The  great  modern  Republic  sprang  from  a  union 
of  races  as  various  and  contrasted  as  the  climates  from 
which,  and  to  which,  they  emigrated.  Sweden,  Holland, 
Germany,  Savoy,  Spain,  France,  Scotland,  and  Ireland, 
all  co-operated,  no  less  mightily  than  England,  in  peopling 
our  territory,  moulding  our  institutions,  and  creating  our 
vast  and  diversified  country,  "one  and  indivisible."  To 
its  heterogeneousness,  and  not  to  its  supposed  homogene- 
ousness — to  its  collisions  and  its  comminglings  of  races — 
to  its  compromises  and  its  concessions — does  that  country 
owe  its  grandest  moral,  social,  and  political  character- 
istics. 

Among  these  various  races,  the  Batavian  founders  of 
New  York  marked  their  impress  deep  upon  their  State 
and  upon  the  confederated  nation.  The  motives  to  their 
emigration  were  different  from  those  which   led  to  the 


Commemorative  0 ratio*.  45 

colonization  of  other  American  territories.  They  had 
suffered  no  persecution  in  their  tolerant  Fatherland.  They 
left  its  shores  not  as  refugees,  but  as  volunteers — not  to 
seek  ''Freedom  to  worship  God'1  for  themselves,  and 
deny  it  to  others — not  to  establish  inquisitorial  dogmatism, 
but  to  live,  and  let  others  live,  in  comfort.  "Not  as 
the  conqueror  comes,"  came  the  unaggressive  forefathers 
of  our  State.  The  plain-spoken  and  earnest,  yet  unpre- 
sumptuous  men  who  first  explored  and  reclaimed  New 
Netherland,  and  bore  the  flag  of  Holland  to  the  cabins  of 
the  Iroquois,  crossed  the  ocean  to  better  their  condition, 
and  add  another  far-off  Province  to  the  Dutch  Republic. 
They  remembered,  with  deep  affection,  the  great  history 
of  the  little  country  they  had  left ;  and  with  their  house- 
hold gods,  they  carried 

"  The  wreaths  and  relics  of  the  immortal  fire."* 

They  hoped,  perhaps,  that  in  time  they  might  rear,  among 
the  rocks,  and  the  maples,  and  the  pine-trees  on  the  banks 
of  the  River  of  the  Mountains,  "the  Exchange  of  a 
wealthier  Amsterdam,  and  the  schools  of  a  more  learned 
Leyden."f  They  gave  to  their  new  abodes  among  the 
red  men  of  the  forest,  the  names  which  they  had  loved  in 
their  distant  Belgian  homes.  Born  in  that ' '  hollow  land, ' ' 
rescued  from  the  sea,  where  the  first  lessons  of  childhood 
taught  them  self-reliance  and  industry,  they  brought  over 
into  the  wilderness  those  thrifty  national  habits  which 
soon  made  it  to  bloom  and  blossom  as  the  rose.  Longer 
lines  of  barges  than  ever  crowded  the  Batavian  canals, 
are  now  drawn  through  those  magnificent  channels  from 
the  lakes  to  the  ocean,  which  the  experience  of  Holland 
suggested,  and  the  enterprise  of  her  sons  helped  to  con- 
struct. Distinguished  by  that  modesty  which  generally 
accompanies  merit,    the    Dutch  pioneers  of   New  York 

*  Dryden's  ^Eneid,  IT.  t  Macaulay,  I,  219. 


46  Commemorative  Oration. 

made  no  loud- sounding  pretensions  to  grandeur  in  pur- 
pose, superiority  in  character,  or  eminence  in  holiness. 
They  were  the  very  opposites  of  the  Pharisees  of  ancient 
or  of  modern  times.  They  were  more  ready  to  do  than 
to  boast ;  and  their  descendants  have  never  been  am- 
bitious to  arrogate  and  appropriate  excessive  praise  for 
what  their  forefathers  did  in  extending  the  limits  of 
Christendom,  and  in  stamping  on  North  America  its  re- 
splendent features  of  freedom  of  religion  and  liberality  in 
political  faith.  With  the  magnanimous  ideas,  and  honest 
maxims,  and  homely  virtues  of  their  Fatherland,  they 
transplanted  her  national  Church  and  her  public  Schools, 
her  accomplished  "  Domines"  and  her  well-educated 
Schoolmasters.  The  huge  clasped  Bibles,  issued  from  her 
proverbially  elegant  press,  were  preserved  as  venerable 
heir-looms  in  their  families.  The  system  of  free  public 
or  common  Schools — in  which  New  England  takes  no  less 
pride  than  New  York — was  borrowed,  or  imitated,  from 
the  Dutch  Republic,  where  the  exiled  Puritans  saw  it  for 
the  first  time  in  successful  operation,  through  the  influence 
of  her  Calvinistic  national  Church.*  The  holidays  of  the 
Netherlands,  observed  by  us  here  to  this  day,  renew  the 
genial  and  hallowed  anniversaries  of  "Paas"  and  "  Saint 
Nicholas  ;"  while,  year  by  year,  the  people  of  New  York 
are  invited  to  render  thanks  to  Grod,  as  their  forefathers 
were  invited  to  keep  "Thanksgiving  Day"  in  Holland, 
long  before  Manhattan  was  known,  and  while  New 
England  was  yet  "a  rocky  desart."f  Those  forefathers 
fearlessly  deposed  the  King  of  Spain,  while  they  humbly 
worshipped  the  King  of  kings.  The  children  of  such 
ancestors  added  no  weak  ingredient  to  the  blended  masses 
of  our  Union  ! 
Yet  while  Hollanders  formed  the  chief  element  in  her 

«  Davies's  Holland,  II.  202,  203;  Bor.,  XX.  672;  Brodhead,  I.  462,  463. 

t  Smith's  New  England;  Pinkertoii,  XIII.  206;  Brodhead,  I.  41,  64,  443,  747. 


Commemorative  Oration.  47 

population,  New  Netherland  enjoyed  the  advantage  of  a 
happy  intermixture  of  other  European  races.  Her  first 
settlers,  imbued  with  the  liberal  sentiments  of  their  ances- 
tral land,  viewed  free  navigation  and  free  trade  as  the  sol- 
vent of  national  antipathies.  Accordingly,  without  re- 
garding diversities  in  doctrine  or  lineage,  they  made  the 
hearth-stone  the  test  of  citizenship,  and  residence  and 
loyalty  the  only  obligations  of  the  multifarious  nationali- 
ties which  soon  came  to  nestle  among  them.  Walloons 
from  Flanders,  Huguenots  and  Waldenses  from  France 
and  Savoy,  Swedes,  Txerman  Lutherans,  wandering  Israel- 
ites, Roman  Catholics,  Anabaptists,  and  English  Quakers, 
all  planted  themselves,  more  or  less  quietly,  beside  the 
natives  of  Calvinistic  Holland.  Marvell's  Lines  on  Old 
Amsterdam  might  almost  describe  her  trans- Atlantic  child, 
which  with 

"Christian,  Pagan,  Jew, 
Staple  of  sects  and  mint  of  schism  grew ; 
That  bank  of  conscience,  where  not  one  so  strange 
Opinion,  but  finds  credit  and  exchange. 
In  vain  for  Catholics  ourselves  we  bear, 
The  universal  church  is  only  there." 

As  early  as  1643,  the  Jesuit  Father  Jogues — that  illus- 
trious apostle  who  consecrated  with  his  life  the  "  Mission 
of  the  Martyrs' '  among  the  Mohawks  at  Caghnawaga* — 
found  that  eighteen  different  languages  were  spoken  in 
New  Amsterdam.  There  was  always  popular  freedom 
and  public  spirit  enough  in  the  Dutch  Province  to  attract 
voluntary  emigrants  from  the  neighboring  British  Colo- 
nies. If  the  Fatherland  gave  asylum  to  self-exiled  Eng- 
lish Puritans,  New  Netherland  as  liberally  sheltered  refu- 
gees from  the  intolerant    governments    on    her    eastern 

*  The  Indian  word  "Caghnawaga"  means  "  the  Rapids,"  or  ua  carrying-place ;'' 
Col.  Doc,  III.  250,  /iute;Generaf Index,  282;  Shea's  Catholic  Missions,  304;  N.  Y. 
H.  S.  Coll.,  III.  (II.)  171 ;  Brodhead,  I.  423,  659.  I  cannot  refrain  from  protesting 
against  the  hideous  want  of  taste  which  has  belittled  this  sonorous,  siguiticant,  and 
historical  name  into  "  Fonda  I" 


48  Commemorative  Oration. 

frontier.  Her  magnificent  destiny,  foretold  in  Holland,* 
began  to  be  accomplished,  when  numbers,  looking  to  her 
with  eager  eyes,  were  allured  to  embark  for  her  shore. 
Far  across  the  sea  came  crowded  ships  from  Scotland,  and 
France,  and  Ireland  ;  while  from  the  upper  waters  of  the 
Rhine  flocked  multitudes  of  a  kindred  race  to  those  at  its 
mouth,  who  first  chose  Manhattan  as  their  home.  Here, 
on  our  own  rocky  island — the  Tyre  of  the  New  World — 
where  Dutch  sagacity,  integrity,  liberality,  and  industry 
laid  the  foundations— Saxon  and  Celt,  Frenchman  and 
German,  Jew  and  Gentile,  Northerner  and  Southerner — 
men  of  all  races,  and  tongues,  and  climes,  and  creeds, 
have  worked  together  to  build  up  the  golden  throne  of 
Commerce.  New  Amsterdam  was  but  the  miniature  of 
New  Netherland,  and  the  prototype  of  cosmopolitan  New 
York.  And  so,  with  large  and  comprehensive  spirit,  our 
Dutch  forefathers  established  the  grandeur  of  that  imperial 
State  whose 

"Far-off  coming:  shone."t 

But  if  it  was  for  the  true  interest  of  America  that  New 
York  should  be  founded  by  Holland,  it  was  equally  for 
the  greatest  good  of  the  greatest  number  that  she  should 
be  acquired  by  England.  She  could  not  long  have  re- 
mained an  isolated  dependency  of  the  Dutch  Republic. 
The  time  was  not  yet  at  hand  for  her  own  State  Indepen- 
dence. Nor  was  it  the  purpose  of  Providence  that  New 
Netherland  should  ever  become  a  separate  American  Sov- 
ereignty. Her  central  and  commanding  position,  her  pic- 
turesqueness,  variety,  and  universality,  all  foreshadowed 
her  grand  destiny— forever  to  bind  together  the  North  and 
the  South,  and  to  unite  with  the  Ocean  the  Lakes  and  the 
Prairies    of  a  future  vast  and  undivided  country.      To 

*  Ante,  page  17. 

t  The  Arms  of  the  State  of  New  York,  adopted  in  1778,  represent  the  Sun  rising 
over  distant  mountain-tops,  and  her  significant  motto  is  "Excelsior." 


Commemorative  Oration.  49 

that  wise  end,  her  colonial  allegiance  was  deter- 
mined. If,  instead  of  becoming  the  connecting  link 
between  the  British  American  Plantations,  our  State 
had  been  annexed  to  Canada  by  Louis  the  Fourteenth, 
the  Iroquois  would  have  been  rapidly  extermina- 
ted ;  the  dominion  of  France  on  this  continent  would  have 
grown  impregnable ;  no  Wolfe  would  have  scaled  the 
heights  of  Abraham  ;  and  no  such  Revolution  could  have 
happened  as  that  which  produced  our  nation.  New 
France,  including  the  Valleys  of  the  Ohio  and  the  Mis- 
sissippi, might  yet"  have  possessed  her  "  broad-armed 
ports"  at  Quebec,  Manhattan,  and  New  Orleans  ;  and  a 
Bourbon  might  still  have  dated  the  instructions  of  his 
Vice-Roy  at  Versailles.  Instead  of  Canada  and  Nova 
Scotia,  New  England  and  Virginia,  deprived  of  the  sym- 
pathy of  New  York,  might  perhaps,  at  this  moment,  have 
been  receiving  orders  from  Whitehall.  But  the  con- 
firmation of  British  supremacy  in  New  Netherland  was 
the  augury  of  our  national  independence.  The  Father- 
land had  done  all  that  the  wisdom  of  the  Almighty  had 
given  her  to  do  in  the  work  of  American  colonization. 
Thenceforward,  her  trans- Atlantic  offspring  was  to  become 
the  ward  of  a  severer  guardian,  whose  fate  it  was — like 
that  of  Spain — to  educate  a  new  Republic  of  United 
States.  This  glorious  consummation  could  not  have  be- 
gun, nor  have  been  so  wisely  accomplished,  if  New  York 
had  not  suffered  in  common  with  other  colonies  under  the 
oppression  which  produced  unanimous  revolt ;  and  if  she 
had  not  taught  her  Confederates  some  of  those  exalting 
principles  of  political  and  religious  liberality,  which,  pre- 
serving her  through  long  generations  untainted  by  fanati- 
cism, have  made  her  the  majestic  monument  of  her 
Batavian  founders. 

With  the   supremacy   of    England  came  a  necessary 
change  in  the  language,  the  laws,  and  the  institutions  of 


50  Commemorative  Oration. 

New  York.  This  change,  however,  was  very  gradual. 
The  Articles  of  Capitulation  happily  restrained  what  other- 
wise might  have  been  an  insufferable  exercise  of  the  con- 
queror's power.  Guaranteed  their  own  religious  worship 
and  church  discipline,  the  Dutch,  in  due  time,  cordially 
welcomed  the  Service  of  the  Church  of  England.*  Free- 
dom of  conscience  was  forever  secured  by  the  influence  of 
the  ancient  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  which  effectually 
prevented  the  establishment  of  any  one  denomination  as 
"  The  Church"  of  the  Province.  The  Episcopal  commu- 
nion, although  fostered  by  the  servants  of  the  Crown, 
never  became  her  predominating  sect.f  This  was  owing, 
in  a  great  degree,  to*  the  high  personal  and  scholarly 
standing  of  the  Dutch  clergymen,  of  whom  a  regular  suc- 
cession, educated  and  ordained  in  Holland,  continued  to 
be  sent  over  until  1772,  when  the  ecclesiastical  authority 
of  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam  ceased4  The  cosmopolitan 
character  of  New  York  was  but  made  more  permanent  by 
the  bloodless  revolution,  which,  preserving  the  old,  in- 
fused fresh  elements  among  the  original  staples  of  her 
greatness.  Relieved  from  the  anxiety  that  for  some  time 
had  been  oppressing  them,  her  people,  as  they  grew  in 


*  The  Charter  of  Trinity  Church  could  hardly  have  passed  Fletcher's  Council  on 
the  6th  of  May,  1697y  without  the  friendship  of  its  Dutch  members,  Phillipse,  Van 
Cortlandt,  and  Bayard;  Council  Minutes,  VII.  236;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  III.  249. 

t  The  Colonial  act  of  22  September,  1693,  was  passed  by  an  Assembly  in  which 
there  was  only  one  Episcopalian,  and  which  never  thought  of  establishing  that 
denomination  as  the  Provincial  Church.  In  point  of  fact  the  Episcopal  Church 
never  was  establishedT  except  in  some  of  the  Southern  counties  of  the  Province. 
See  Col.  Doc,  V.  321,  322;  Doc.  Hist.,  III.  150,  151;  Smith's  New  York,  I.  131, 
134,  187,  337,  339,  II.  234;  Sedgwick's  Life  of  Livingston,  78,  88;  Force's  Tracts, 
IV.  (IV.)  3,  35,  40,  52. 

%  See  Verplanck,  in  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Collections,  III.  89;  Gunn's  Memoirs  of  the 
Reverend  John  H.  Livingsfon,  D.  D.,  141, 142  (Ed.  1856.)  Demarest,  in  his  "  History 
and  Characteristics  of  the  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  Church,"  p.  96,  remarks  that 
"  She,  of  all  Churches  in  the  land,  was  least  able  to  succeed  without  an  educated 
ministry,  for  she  had  been  always  taught  to  consider  this  as  essential.  It  was 
required  by  the  "Articles  of  Union,  that  provision  should  be  made  for  it.  Moreover, 
the  Church  in  Holland  would  not  consent  to  the  independence  of  the  American 
Churches  until  this  had  been  guaranteed." 


Commemorative  On  at  ton.  51 

prosperity,  remembered  with  fading  regret  the  event, 
which,  although  it  severed  them  politically  from  Holland, 
could  never  take  from  them  the  heritage  of  her  virtues, 
her  teachings,  and  her  historical  renown. 

By  becoming  British  subjects,  the  inhabitants  of  New 
Netherland  did  not,  however,  gain  civil  freedom.  New 
names,  they  found,  did  not  secure  new  liberties.  "Am- 
sterdam" was  changed  to  York,  and  "Orange"  to  Al- 
bany. But  these  changes  only  commemorated  the  titles 
of  a  conqueror.  Stuyvesant,  and  the  West  India  Com- 
pany, and  a  republican  sovereignty,  were  exchanged  for 
Mcolls,  and  a  Royal  Proprietor,  and  an  hereditary  King. 
The  Province  was  not  represented  in  Parliament ;  nor 
could  her  voice  reach  the  chapel  of  Saint  Stephen  at  West- 
minster, as  readily  as  it  had  penetrated  the  chambers  of 
the  Binnenhof  at  the  Hague.  It  was  nearly  twenty  years 
before  her  Ducal  Proprietor  allowed,  for  a  short  time,  to 
the  people  of  New  York  even  that  faint  degree  of  repre- 
sentative government  which  they  had  enjoyed  when  the 
three-colored  ensign  of  Holland  was  hauled  down  from  the 
nag-staff  of  Fort  Amsterdam.  Not  until  the  authority  of 
the  British  Crown  was  shaken,  did  New  York  become 
again  as  really  free  as  New  Netherland  had  been. 

There  was  one  remarkable  feature  in  which  our  State 
differed  from  every  other  British- American  dependency. 
A  conquest  from  Holland,  she  became  for  twenty-one 
years  a  Proprietary  Dukedom,  and  then,  for  nearly  a  cen- 
tury, she  remained  a  Royal  Province.  Without  a  char- 
ter, like  those  of  Maryland  or  Pennsylvania,  New  York 
resembled  none  of  the  New  England  colonies,  except,  per- 
haps, New  Hampshire.  It  was  not  until  after  the  acces- 
sion of  the  Dutch  Stadtholder  to  the  English  throne,  that 
she  permanently  obtained  the  privilege  of  an  Assembly 
elected  by  her  freeholders.  Even  then,  her  Governor  and 
her  Counsellors  were  appointed  directly  by  the   King. 


52  Commemorative  Oration. 

This  circumstance,  in  connection  with  others  peculiar  to 
her  original  colonization,  fastened  upon  New  York  a  dis- 
tinctive quality  of  social  aristocracy,  which  survived  the 
period  of  her  Independence.  It  was  perhaps  owing  to 
these  causes,  that  so  few  comparatively  of  her  Puritan 
neighbors  came  to  add  to  her  colonial  population.  New 
England  and  the  north  of  Ireland  contributed,  at  one 
time,  considerable  numbers.  But  her  largest  accessions  of 
emigrants,  during  the  reigns  of  William,  Anne,  and  the 
Georges,  besides  Englishmen  and  Hollanders,  were  French 
Huguenots  and  German  Calvinists  and  Lutherans.  Most 
of  the  latter  were  refugees  from  the  Palatinate,  who  set- 
tled themselves  on  the  Hudson  and  the  Mohawk  Rivers. 
West  of  Herkimer,  the  country  was  possessed  by  the  Iro- 
quois ;  and  it  was  not  until  long  after  our  State  Constitu- 
tion was  formed  at  Kingston,  in  1777,  that  emigrants  from 
New  England  ventured  to  push  beyond  the  German  Flats, 
and  occupy  the  rich  pastures  of  Onondaga  and  the  Gen- 
esee. North  of  the  north  line  of  Massachusetts,  New 
York  remained  for  many  years  the  true  owner  of  the 
region  west  of  the  Connecticut,  and  she  thus  became  the 
mother  of  the  present  State  of  Vermont.  Her  original 
territory,  as  defined  by  the  Dutch  Government  in  1614, 
was  so  partitioned,  in  the  progress  of  events,  as  to  form  the 
several  States  of  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts, 
Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  Vermont,  New  York,  New 
Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and  Delaware.  Little  did  the 
quiet  men  who,  in  the  Binnenhof  at  the  Hague,  first  placed 
the  name  of  New  Nethekland  on  the  map  of  the  world, 
anticipate  that  it  would  become  the  parent  of  such  a  noble 
progeny  of  sovereignties ! 

To  all  the  changes  which  followed  its  conquest,  the 
Dutch  colonists  of  our  State  submitted  with  characteristic 
good  faith.  A  few,  who  could  not  bear  the  separation, 
returned  to  end  their  days  in  their  Fatherland.      But 


Commemorative  Oration.  53 

Stuyvesant,  with  the  Butch  clergy  and  most  of  the  colo- 
nial officers,  honestly  swore  allegiance  to  the  King  and 
to  the  Duke,  and  remained  faithful  as  long  as  English 
supremacy  lasted.*  No  more  loyal  subjects  than  they 
were  ever  brought  under  the  British  crown.  Yet  it  was 
no  pleasant  thing  for  them  to  watch  the  Red  Cross  of  Eng- 
land waving  where  the  emblems  of  the  Netherlands  had 
floated  for  fifty  years.  To  Holland  they  felt  a  deep,  unal- 
terable, hereditary  attachment.  Nor  has  the  whirligig  of 
time  extinguished  this  sentiment  in  their  descendants. 
Two  centuries  have  scarcely  weakened  the  veneration 
which  citizens  of  New  York  of  Dutch  lineage  proudly 
cherish  towards  the  birth-land  of  their  ancestors.  Year 
by  year,  the  glorious  and  the  genial  memories  of  Holland 
are  renewed  by  those  whom  long  generations  divide  from 
the  country  of  their  forefathers.  But  it  is  generally  true, 
that  Colonists  retain  more  affection  towards  their  Father- 
land than  those  who  remain  at  home  ever  feel  toward  the 
emigrants  who  leave  its  shores.  As  years  roll  on,  the 
contrast  becomes  more  marked.  Two  centuries  have 
almost  wiped  out  of  the  recollection  of  Holland  the  once 
familiar  name  of  New  Netherland.  A  few  of  the  more 
curious  of  her  scholars  and  her  statesmen  may  now  and 
then,  by  careful  search,  discover  the  meagre  paragraphs 
in  which  her  ponderous  histories  dismiss  the  story  of  her 
ancient  trans- Atlantic  Province.  The  most  complete 
separate  sketch  of  it  in  the  Dutch  language  is  the  work  of 
a  Zealander,f  which,  though,  written  not  many  years 
ago,  is  already  a  literary  rarity.  But  the  people  of  the 
Low  Countries  scarcely  know  that  New  York  was  once 
their  own  New  Netherland,  or  that  they  have  any  right 
to  the  glory  of  having  laid  the  foundations  of  the  might- 
iest State  in  the  American  Union,  and  the  metropolis  of  the 
Western  world  ! 

*  See  ante,  p.  41,  note.  f  N.  C.  Lambreebtsen,  of  Middelburg. 


54  Commemorative  Oration. 

While  it  is  thus  to  be  regretted  that  the  history  of  New 
Netherland  should  be  so  little  known  in  Holland,  it  is  still 
more  discreditable  that,  until  recently,  it  continued  to  be 
as  little  understood,  and  perhaps  even  less  appreciated,  in 
America.  There  is  no  State  in  our  Union  which  has  better 
reason  to  be  proud  of  its  annals  than  New  York.  Yet  of 
no  State  were  the  beginnings  left  for  generations  in  greater 
obscurity.  Official  records  and  original  accounts  by  con- 
temporary writers  have  never,  indeed,  been  wanting.  But 
these  were  generally  like  sealed  books,  written  in  the  ver- 
nacular— almost  unknown  to  Englishmen — of  William  the 
Silent,  and  Grotius,  and  Barneveldt.  The  only  colonial 
historian  of  New  York,  after  its  conquest,  was  a  Royalist 
of  English  descent.**  His  meagre  outline  of  its  first  half- 
century  seems  to  have  encouraged  a  former  Chancellor  of 
our  own  State  incautiously  to  tell  us,  thirty- six  years  ago, 
that  the  annals  of  its  Dutch  period  "are  of  a  tame  and 
pacific  character,  and  generally  dry  and  uninteresting,  "t 
The  remark  might  have  been  somewhat  just,  if  it  had  been 
applied — not  to  their  quality,  but — to  the  disgracefully 
neglected  condition  in  which  our  earliest  archives  were 
formerly  suffered  to  remain.  %  If  the  sources  of  history 
were  thus  sealed,  it  is  not  surprising  that  History  herself 
should  have  been  silent.  Like  the  many  brave  men  who 
died  before  Agamemnon,  the  modest  founders  of  New 
York  for  a  long  time  slept, 

"Unwept,  unknown: 
No  bard  had  they  to  make  all  time  their  own."§ 

This  is  doubtless  owing,  in  some  degree,  to  ignorance 

*  William  Smith,  who  died  in*1793,  Chief- Justice  of  Canada. 

t  Chancellor  Kent,  in  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  (II.)  I.  13. 

%  I  avail  myself  of  this  opportunity  to  express  gratification  that  Dr.  E.  B. 
O'Callaghan  has  been,  of  late  years,  in  charge  of  the  Historical  Records  of  our 
State  at  Albany.  He  is  one  of  the  very  few  who  are  fitted  for  the  peculiar  office 
of  Archivist;  and  it  would  be  a  calamity  if  the  public  should  be  deprived  of 
the  advantage  of  his  services. 

§  Francis's  Translation  of  Horace's  Odes,  IV.  9. 


Commemorative  Oration.  55 

of  the  Dutch  language,  which  few  English  or  American 
authors  have  ever  attempted  to  master.  But  it  is  still  more 
owing  to  an  inherited  or  imitative  spirit  of  supercilious 
depreciation  of  every  thing  Dutch,  which,  with  some  bril- 
liant exceptions,  seems  to  have  infected  so  many  writers 
in  our  own  country,  especially  those  of  New  England.*  It 
is  the  good  fortune  of  that  section  of  our  land  to  possess 
abundant  easily  read  records  of  the  deeds  and  virtues  of 
her  founders  ;  and  it  is  greatly  to  her  comfort  that  so  many 
of  her  children  have  done  their  best  to  extol  her  glory  and 
spread  abroad  her  fame.  Yet,  while  a  monotonous  repe- 
tition of  indiscriminating  panegyric  may  gratify  its  sub- 
jects, it  does  not  always  enlarge  human  knowledge.     It 

may  well  be  questioned  whether  zeal  has  not  run  into 
injustice,  and  whether,  while  incessantly  magnifying  the 
praise  of  one  portion  of  our  Union,  a  candid  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  merits  of  others  has  not  been  systematically 
shunned.  The  Tacitus  of  our  country,  in  the  grandeur  of 
his  comprehensive  genius,  has  not  failed  to  do  eloquent 
justice  to  the  honest  memories  of  New  York,  his  chosen 
home.  But  too  many  of  our  approved  authorities  and 
school-books,  professing  to  teach  American  history,  seem 
as  if  they  were  carefully  calculated  for  a  provincial  meri- 
dian, and  cunningly  manufactured  to  inculcate  only  ac- 
counts of  New  England.  The  beginnings  of  the  Empire 
State  are  passed  ignorantly  by  ;  or,  if  they  are  alluded  to, 
it  is  too  often  in  niggard  or  reluctant  words,  unworthy  of 
any  scholar  who  ventures  to  relate  our  country' s  story. 
The  patriotic  calendar  of  America  has  pertinaciously  can- 
onized the  little  company  which  landed  on  Plymouth 
beach  ;  while  it  has  jealously  suppressed  a  just  reference  to 

*  Everett  and  Bancroft  are  national  jewels.  Motley  has  done  immortal  honor 
to  New  England  and  to  himself  b}'  his  admirable  Dutch  histories.  Not  less 
worthily  has  Tuckerman,  in  his  "Optimist,"  and  his  "Biographical  Essays," 
shown  that  just  appreciation  of  New  York  and  her  characteristics  which  a  scholar 
of  his  fine  taste  and  cultivation  could  not  help  exhibiting. 


56  Commemorative  Oration. 

the  progeny  of  those  who,  long  before  they  sheltered  that 
Pilgrim  band  at  Leyden,  had  showed  the  world  how  to 
depose  a  King  and  declare  a  People  free  and  independent. 

The  retirement  of  Holland  from  an  unequal  strife,  left 
France  and  Spain  to  contend  with  England  for  colonial 
supremacy  in  North  America.  Mistress  of  all  the  Atlantic 
coast  between  Nova  Scotia  and  Florida,  the  power  which 
had  conquered  New  York  soon  aspired  to  uncontrolled 
dominion  from  sea  to  sea.  The  acquisition  of  New  Nether- 
land,  which  had  formerly  kept  Virginia  apart  from  New 
England,  gave  to  the  British  Crown  the  mastery  of  the 
most  advantageous  position  on  our  Continent,  whence  it 
could  at  pleasure  direct  movements  against  any  Colony 
that  might  attempt  a  premature  independence.  With 
short-sighted  triumph,  England  rejoiced  that  her  authority 
was  dotted  on  a  new  spot  in  the  map  of  the  world.  But 
her  pride  went  before  her  destruction,  and  her  haughty 
spirit  prepared  the  way  for  her  terrible  humiliation.  The 
American  Republic  was  fashioned  in  the  first  Congress  of 
1765,  which  met  at  New  York.  It  was  a  most  significant, 
but  only  a  just  decree  of  Providence,  that  the  retribution 
of  England  should  begin  with  the  very  Province  which 
she  had  so  iniquitously  ravished  from  Holland,  to  set,  as 
her  most  splendid  jewel,  in  the  diadem  of  her  colonial 
sovereignty ! 

Yet  for  a  long  time  the  Plantations  which  had  thus  be- 
come geographically  united  were  neither  homogeneous  nor 
sympathetic  ;  and  they  never  were  actually  consolidated. 
While  New  England,  Maryland,  and  Virginia  were  radi- 
cally Anglo-Saxon  Colonies,  the  mass  of  the  population  of 
New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and  Delaware, 
which  had  formed  the  later  territory  of  New  Netherland, 
was,  as  we  have  seen,  made  up  of  Hollanders,  Huguenots, 
Waldenses,    Germans,    Frenchmen,   Swedes,    Scotchmen, 


Commemorative  Oration.  57 

and  Irishmen.  A  similar  want  of  liomogeneousness 
characterized  some  of  the  more  Southern  Colonies.  Among 
these  manifold  nationalities,  ideas  and  motives  of  action 
were  as  various  and  discordant  as  the  differing  dialects 
which  were  uttered.  In  the  progress  of  years,  a  common 
allegiance  and  common  dangers  produced  a  greater  sym- 
pathy among  the  English  Plantations  in  North  America. 

Nevertheless,  while  she  formed  a  part  of  the  British 
Colonial  Empire,  New  York  never  lost  her  original  social 
identity  nor  her  peculiar  political  influence.  Her  moral 
power  lasted  throughout  the  whole  succession  of  events 
which  culminated  in  the  American  Revolution.  It  is  im- 
possible for  me  now  to  attempt  a  fitting  historical  review 
of  this  demonstrable  truth.  It  is  enough  to  say  that,  if 
the  legitimate  influence  of  New  York  has  not  heretofore 
been  always  worthily  acknowledged,  it  has  never  been 
openly  denied.  Nor  has  her  salutary  moral  power  ever 
ceased.  The  history  of  her  Fatherland — besides  the 
idea  of  toleration  of  opinion — furnished  the  example  of 
the  Confederation  of  Free  and  Independent  States,  and 
made  familiar  the  most  instructive  lessons  of  Constitu- 
tional administration.  While  that  history  taught  the 
sacred  right  of  revolt  against  the  tyranny  of  an  hereditary 
King,  it  enforced  the  no  less  sacred  duty  of  faithfulness 
to  deliberate  obligations,  and  loyalty  to  the  General  Gov- 
ernment founded  by  the  solemn  compact  of  Sovereign  but 
United  States.  The  patriots  who  deposed  Philip  the 
Second  were  the  great  originals  of  those  who  in  the  next 
century  dethroned  Charles  the  First,  and  in  the  century 
following  rejected  George  the  Third.  From  Holland  came 
William,  "the  Deliverer"  of  England  from  the  tyrant 
James.  The  Declaration  of  the  Independence  of  the 
United  Provinces  of  the  Netherlands  was  the  glorious 
model  of  the  English  Declaration  of  Eight,  and  of  the 
grander  Declaration  of  the  Independence  of  the  United 


58  Commemorative  Oration. 

Colonies  of  North  America.  The  Union  of  Utrecht  was 
the  noble  exemplar  of  the  Philadelphia  Articles  of  Con- 
federation. The  Dutch  motto,  "Eendragt  maakt 
magt" — Unity  makes  might — suggested  our  own  "E 
Pluribus  Unum." 

All  these  teachings  of  Dutch  history  are  the  peculiar 
heritage  of  our  own  Empire  State.  It  was  the  proud  des- 
tiny of  New  York  to  temper  the  narrow  and  sometimes 
fanatical  characteristics  of  her  English  sister  Plantations 
with  the  larger  and  more  conservative  principles  which 
she  had  herself  derived  from  Holland.  It  was  her  lot  to 
sustain  more  severe  trials,  and  gain  a  more  varied  expe- 
rience, than  any  other  American  Colony.  Midway  be- 
tween the  Saint  Lawrence  and  the  Chesapeake,  she  stood, 
for  almost  a  century,  guarding  her  long  frontier  against 
the  enmity  and  might  of  New  France.  And  when  at 
last  the  Conquest  of  Canada  filled  the  measure  of  British 
aggression,  and  pampered  still  more  the  British  lust  of 
power,  the  augury  of  two  hundred  years  ago  was  fulfilled, 
and  New  York — worthy  to  be  distinguished  as  The 
Netiierland  of  America — became  the  Pivot  Province, 
on  which  hinged  the  most  important  movements  of  that 
sublime  revolt  against  the  oppression  of  England,  the 
only  parallel  to  which  was  the  triumphant  struggle  that 
the  forefathers  of  her  first  settlers  maintained  against  the 
gigantic  despotism  of  Spain  ! 


APPENDIX. 


NOTE   A. 

Translation  of  the  first  New  Netherland  Charter,  granted  by  the 
States  General,  on  11  October,  1614; — from  Mr.  Brodhead's 
Address  before  the  N.  Y.  Historical  Society,  20  November, 
1844,  p.  53,  and  from  the  New  York  Colonial  Documents,  volume 
I.  pages  10-12. 

Saturday,  the  Eleventh  of  October,  1614. 

Present — The  President,  Mr.  Ghiessen. 

Messrs.  Biesmax,  Westerholt,  Briexex,  Olden  Baexevelt,  Berokenrode, 

Driel,  Teylixgex,  Magxus,  Moesbergex,  Ayloa,  Hegemaxs. 

THE  STATES-GENERAL  of  the  Uxited  Netherlands  to  all  to 
whom  these  presents  shall  come,  Greetixg:  Whereas  Gerrit  Jacobz  Witssen, 
ancient  Burgomaster  of  the  City  of  Amsterdam,  Jonas  Witssen  and  Simon 
Monissen,  owners  of  the  ship  named  the  Little  Fox,  whereof  Jan  de  With 
was  schipper  ;  Hans  Hongers,  Paulus  Pelgrom,  and  Lambrecht  van  Tween- 
huysen,  owners  of  the  two  ships  named  the  Tiger  and  the  Fortune,  whereof 
Adriaen  Block  and  Henrick  Corstiaenssen  were  schippers;  Arnolt  van 
Leybergen,  Wessel  Schenck,  Hans  Claessen,  and  Berent  Sweertsen,  owners 
of  the  ship  named  the  Nightingale,  whereof  Thys  Volckertssen  was  schip- 
per, merchants  of  the  aforesaid  City  Amsterdam  ;  and  Pieter  Clementssen 
Brouwer,  Jan  Clementssen  Kies,  and  Cornelis  Volckertssen,  merchants  of 
the  City  of  Hoorn,  owners  of  the  ship  named  the  Fortuyn,  whereof  Corne- 
lis Jacobssen  May  was  schipper,  All  now  associated  in  one  Company,  Have 
respectfully  represented  unto  Us,  that  they  the  Petitioners,  after  heavy 
expenses  and  great  damages  to  themselves  by  loss  of  ships  and  other 
dangers,  had,  during  the  present  current  year,  discovered  and  found,  writh 
the  above-named  five  ships,  certain  New  Lands,  lying  in  America,  between 
New  France  and  Virginia,  the  sea-coasts  whereof  lie  between  Forty  and 
Forty-five  degrees  of  latitude,  and  now  called  New  Netherlaxd:  And 
Whereas  We  did,  in  the  month  of  March  last,  for  the  promotion  and  increase 


60  Commemorative  Oration. 

of  Commerce,  cause  to  be  published  a  certain  General  Consent  and  Charter, 
setting  forth  that  whosoever  should  thereafter  discover  new  havens,  lands, 
places,  or  passages,  might  frequent,  or  cause  to  be  frequented,  for  four 
voyages,    such   newly-discovered  and  found  places,  passages,  havens,  or 
lands,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  others  from  visiting  or  frequenting  the  same 
from  the  United  Netherlands,  until  the  said  first  discoverers  and  finders, 
shall  themselves  have  completed  the  said  four  voyages,  or  caused  the  same 
to  be  done  within  the  time  prescribed  for  that  purpose,  under  the  penalties 
expressed  in  the. said  Charter,*  &c,  They  pray  that  We  would  accord  to 
them  a  proper  Act  to  be  passed  in  form,  in  pursuance  of  the  aforesaid 
Charter ;  Which  being  considered,  and  WE  having,  in  Our  Assembly,  heard 
the  pertinent  Keport  of  the  Petitioners  relative  to  the  discovery  and  finding 
of  the  said  New  Countries  between  the  above-named  limits  and  degrees, 
and  also  of  their  adventures,  Have  Consented  and  Granted,  and  by  these 
presents  Do  consent  and  Grant,  to  the  said  petitioners,  now  united  into 
One  Company,  that  they  shall   be  privileged   exclusively  to  frequent  or 
cause  to  be  visited  the  above  Newly-discovered  Lands,  situate  in  America, 
between  New  France  and  Virginia,  whereof  the  sea-coasts  lie  between  the 
Fortieth  and  the  Forty-fifth  degrees  of  latitude,  now  named  New  Netiter- 
land  (as  can  be  seen  by  a  Figurative  Map  hereunto  annexedf),  and  that 
for  four  voyages  within  the  term  of  Three  Years,  commencing  the  First  of 
January  Sixteen  Hundred  and  Fifteen,  next  ensuing  or  sooner ;  without  it 
being  permitted  to  any  other  person  from  the  United  Netherlands  to  sail 
to,  navigate,  or  frequent  the  said  newly-discovered  lands,  havens,  or  places, 
either  directly  or  indirectly,  within  the  said  three  years,  on  pain  of  Confis- 
cation of  the  vessel  and  cargo  wherewith  infraction  hereof  shall  be  at- 
tempted, and  a  fine  of  Fifty  Thousand  Netherland  Ducats,  for  the  benefit  of 
the  aforesaid  discoverers  or  finders : — Provided,  Nevertheless,  that  by  these 
presents  We  do  not  intend  to  prejudice  or  diminish  any  of  Our  former 
Grants  or  Charters ;  And  it  is  also  Our  intention  that  if  any  disputes  or 
differences  arise  from  these  Our  Concessions,  they  shall  be  decided  by  Our- 
selves : — We  Therefore  for  this  purpose  expressly  order  and  command  all 
Governors,  Justices,  Officers,  Magistrates,  and  inhabitants  of  the  aforesaid 
United  Lands,  to  allow  the  said  Company  peaceably  and  quietly  to  use  and 
enjoy  the  whole  benefit  of  this  our  Grant  and  Consent,  refraining  from  all 
opposition  and  obstacles  to  the  contrary :  Inasmuch  as  we  consider  the 
same  to  be  for  the  service  and  advantage  of  the  country.     Given  under  our 
Seal,  and  the  Paraph  and  signature  of  our  Secretary,  at  the  Hague,  the 
eleventh  day  of  October,  1614. 


*  A  translation  of  this  Charter  is  in  N.  Y.  Col.  Doc,  I.  5,  6. 

t  For  a  facsimile  of  this  map,  see  N.  Y.  Col.  Doc,  I.  13.    See  also  the  map  compiled  by  Mr. 
Brodhead,  for  his  History  of  New  York,  which  illustrates  this  publication. 


Appendix.  61 


NOTE    B. 

New  England  writers,  in  their  zeal  to  establish  a  paramount  British  title 
to  the  whole  of  North  America  between  Virginia  and  Canada,  appear  to 
have  overlooked  the  doctrine  announced  by  Queen  Elizabeth  in  1580,  and 
confirmed  in  the  House  of  Commons  in  1621,  as  stated  ante,  page  9.     This 
doctrine  was,  that  " prescription  without  possession  is  of  no  avail;'''1  the 
logical  consequence  of  which  is,  that  the  "  prescription"  arising  from  the 
voyages  of  the  Cabots  gave  England  no  title  except  to  such  American  ter- 
ritory, discovered  by  her  subjects,  as  she  might  actually  occupy.     Under 
this  rule,  her  title  to  Virginia  was  never  questioned.     But  by  King  James's 
second  Patent  of  May,  1609,  the  northern  boundary  of  Virginia  was  fixed 
at  about  the  fortieth  parallel  of  latitude.     The  country  between  Virginia 
and  Canada  had  been  left  a  vacuum  domicilium,  after  the  abandonment  of 
Maine  by  the  Sagadahoc  colonists  in  1608.     The  discoveries  of  the  Dutch  in 
this  intermediate  and  unknown  region  were  followed  by  their  permanent 
occupation  of  the  most  of  it ;  and  the  only  Englishman  that  seems  to  have 
visited  New  Netheeland,  after  those  in  the  Half  Moon,  was  Dermer,  in 
1619.     The  New  England  Patent  of  November,  1620,  by  its  express  Pro- 
viso that  no  territory  was  intended  to  be  granted  which  was  '*  actually 
possessed  or  inhabited  by  any  other  Christian  Prince  or  Estate,"  would 
appear  to  have  clearly  excepted  New  France  and  New  Netherland,  the 
actual  possession  of  which  by  the  French  and  the  Dutch  was  undeniable. 
Yet,  with  the  coolest   audacity,  one  of  the  preliminary  recitals  of  that 
Patent  declared  that  there  were  "no  other  the  subjects  of  any  Christian 
King  or  State,  by  any  authority  from  their  Sovereign  Lords  or  Princes, 
actually  in  possession"  of  any  of  the  territory  between  the  fortieth  and  the 
forty -eighth  degrees  of  latitude!     In  the  same  spirit,  the  English  Privy 
Council,  in  December,  1621,  pretended  that  the  King  had  "good  and  suf- 
ficient title"  to  the  whole  of  that  region,  u  jure  primes  occupationis.'1'1     If 
by  this  was  meant  the  temporary  and  limited  English  "  occupation"  by  the 
colony  at  Sagadahoc,  it  was  a  palpable  absurdity ;  because  that  English 
"  occupation"  of  a  part  of  Maine  was  abandoned  before  the  Dutch  discovery 
of  unknown  New  Netherland.     To  insist  upon  such  a  fallacy  was  simply  to 
substitute  "prescription"  for  "possession" — a  doctrine  which  both  Queen 
Elizabeth  and  Parliament  had  derided.    Nevertheless,  this  transparent  sub- 
terfuge of  constructive,  instead  of  actual  possession,  was  the  strongest  ground 
upon  which  the  English  maintained  their  title  as  against  the  Dutch.     See 
further  on  this  subject,  Brodhead's  New  York,  I.  4,  15,  44,  92-96,  138-144, 
189,  252,  633,  034  ;  Hazard's  Collections,  I.  103-118;  Trumbull's  Connecti- 


62  Commemorative  Oration. 

cut,  I.  547,  554;  N.  Y.  Colonial  Documents,  I.  27,  II.  287,  302,  325, 
332,  379-382,  389,  412,  III.  6-8,  VII.  596;  Smith's  N".  Y.,  I.  297;  Dun- 
lap's  IS".  Y.,  II.,  Appendix,  ccvi. — It  could  hardly,  perhaps,  have  been 
expected  that  the  Editor  of  the  recent  volume  on  "  Henry  Hudson  the 
Navigator,"  published  by  the  Hakluyt  Society  of  London,  in  1860,  should 
have  avoided  the  errors  which  deform  his  Introduction  to  that  work. 


NOTE    C. 

Translation  of  the  Commission  from  the  States-General  of  the 
United  Netherlands  to  Peter  Stuyvesant,  as  Director- 
General  of  New  Netherland,  dated  28  July,  1646  : — from  the 
New  York  Colonial  Documents,  vol.  I.  p.  178. 

THE  STATES-GENERAL  of  the  United  Netheelands.— To  all  those 
to  whom  these  Presents  shall  come,  or  who  shall  hear  them  read,  Health ;  Be 
it  Known  :  Whereas  we  have  deemed  it  advisable  for  the  advancement  of 
the  affairs  of  the  General  Incorporated  West  India  Company  not  only  to 
maintain  the  trade  and  population  on  the  coast  of  New  Netherland  and  the 
places  situate  thereabout,  also  the  islands  Curacoa,  Buenaire,  Aruba,  and 
their  dependencies,  which  have  hitherto  been  encouraged  thither  from  this 
country,  but  also  to  make  new  treaties  and  alliances  with  foreign  Princes, 
and  to  inflict  as  much  injury  as  possible  on  the  enemy  in  his  forts  and 
strongholds,  as  well  by  sea  as  by  land ;  For  which  purposes  it  becomes 
necessary  to  appoint  a  person  Director :  WE,  Therefore,  confiding  in  the 
probity  and  experience  of  Petrus  Stuyvesant,  formerly  intrusted  with 
our  affairs  in,  and  the  government  of,  the  aforesaid  Island  of  Curayoa  and 
l  lie  places  thereon  depending,  and  We,  being  well  pleased  with  his  services 
there,  Have  commissioned  and  appointed  and  by  these  presents  Do  com- 
mission and  appoint  the  said  Petkus  Stuyvesant  Director  in  the  aforesaid 
countries  of  New  Netherland  and  the  places  thereunto  adjoining,  together 
with  the  aforementioned  Islands  of  Curagoa,  Buenaire,  Aruba,  and  their 
dependencies;  to  administer,  with  the  Council  as  well  now  as  hereafter 
appointed  with  him,  the  said  office  of  Director,  both  on  \y,ater  and  on  land, 
and  in  said  quality  to  attend  carefully  to  the  advancement,  promotion,  and 
preservation  of  friendship,  alliances,  trade,  and  commerce;  to  direct  all 
matters  appertaining  to  traffic  and  war,  and  to  maintain  in  all  things  there, 
good  order  for  the  service  of  the  United  Netherlands  and  the  General  West 
India  Company ;  to  establish  regularity  for  the  safeguard  of  the  places  and 
forts  therein ;  to  administer  law  and  justice  as  well  civil  as  criminal ;  And 
moreover  to  perform  all  that  concerns  his  office  and  duties  in  accordance 
with  the  Charter  and  the  general  and   particular  Instructions  herewith 


Appendix.  63 

given,  and  to  be  hereafter  given  him,  as  a  good  and  faithful  Director  is 
bound  and  obliged  by  his  oath  in  Our  hands  to  do;  Which  done,  WE. 
therefore,  order  and  command  all  other  officers,  common  soldier*,  together 
with  the  inhabitants  and  natives  residing  in  the  aforesaid  places  as  subjects, 
and  all  whom  it  may  concern,  to  acknowledge,  respect,  and  obey  the  said 
Petrus  Stityvesant  as  our  Director  in  the  countries  and  places  of  New 
Nethcrland,  and  in  the  Islands  of  CuraQoa,  Buenaire,  Aruba,  and  their 
dependencies,  and  to  afford  all  help,  countenance  and  assistance  in  the 
performance  of  these  things,  as  We  have  found  the  same  to  be  for  the 
advantage  of  the  Company.  Done  in  our  Assembly  at  the  Hague,  on  the 
xxviii.  July,  1646. 


NOTE    D. 

Copy  of  the  Commission  from  the  Duke  of  York  to  Colonel 
Richard  Nicolls,  dated  2  April,  1664,  Recorded  in  Book  of 
Patents,  vol.  I.  pp.  116-118,  in  the  Office  of  the  Secretary  of 
State  at  Albany. 

JAMES,  Duke  of  Yokk  and  Albany,  Earl  of  Ulster,  Lord  High  Admiral 
of  England  and  Ireland,  &c,  Constable  of  Dover  Castle,  Lord  Warden  of 
the  Cinque  Ports,  and  Governor  of  Portsmouth,  &c.  Whereas  it  hath  pleased 
the  King's  most  Excellent  Majesty,  my  Sovereign  Lord  and  Brother,  by 
His  Majesty's  Letters  Patents,  bearing  date  at  Westminster  the  Twelfth  day 
of  March  in  the  Sixteenth  year  of  His  Majesty's  Reign,  to  give  and  grant 
unto  me  and  to  my  Heirs  and  Assigns,  All  that  part  of  the  mainland  of 
New  England,  Beginning  at  a  certain  place  called  or  known  by  the  name 
of  Saint  Croix,  next  adjoining  to  New  Scotland  in  America,  and  from  thence 
extending  along  the  sea-coast,  unto  a  certain  place  called  Petaquine  or 
Pemaquid,  and  so  up  the  River  thereof  to  the  furthest  head  of  the  same,  as 
it  tendeth  Northwards,  and  extending  from  thence  to  the  River  of  Kine- 
bequi,  and  so  upwards  by  the  shortest  course  to  the  River  Canada  north- 
wards ;  And  Also  all  that  Island  or  Islands  commonly  called  by  the  several 
name  or  names  of  Matowacks  or  Long  Island,  situate,  lying,  and  being 
towards  the  west  of  Cape  Cod  and  the  Narrow-Higansets,  abutting  upon 
the  mainland,  between  the  two  rivers  there,  called  or  known  by  the  several 
names  of  Connecticut  and  Hudson?  s  River;  Together  also  with  the  said 
River  called  Hudson's  River  and  all  the  land  from  the  West  side  of  Con- 
necticut River  to  the  East  side  of  Delaware  Bay ;  And  Also  all  those  several 
Islands  called  or  known  by  the  name  of  Martin's  Vineyards  and  Nantukes 
otherwise  Nantucket ;  Together  with  all  the  Lands,  Islands,  Soiles,  Rivers, 
Harbours,  Mines,  Minerals,  Quarries,  Woods,  Marshes,  Waters.  Lakes,  Fish- 


64  Commemorative  Oration. 

ing,  Hawking,  Hunting,  and  Fowling,  and  all  other  Royalties,  Profits, 
Commodities,  Hereditaments,  to  the  said  several  Islands,  Lands,  and  Pre- 
mises belonging  and  appertaining,  with  their  and  every  of  their  Appurte- 
nances ;  To  Hold  the  same  to  my  own  proper  use  and  behoof,  With  Power 
to  correct,  punish,  pardon,  govern,  and  rule  the  Inhabitants  thereof,  by 
Myself,  or  such  Deputies,  Commissioners,  or  Officers  as  I  shall  think  fit  to 
appoint;  as  by  His  Majesty's  said  Letters  Patents  may  more  fully  appear: 
And  Whereas  I  have  conceived  a  good  opinion  of  the  Integrity,  Prudence, 
Ability  and  Fitness  of  RicnARD  Nicolls,  Esquire,  to  be  employed  as  my 
Deputy  there,  I  have  therefore  thought  fit  to  constitute  and  appoint,  And 
I  do  hereby  constitute  and  appoint  him  the  said  Richard  Nicolls,  Esquire, 
to  be  my  Deputy-Governor  within  the  Lands,  Islands,  and  Places  aforesaid, 
To  perform  and  execute  all  and  every  the  Powers  which  are  by  the  said 
Letters  Patents  granted  unto  me,  to  be  executed  by  my  Deputy,  Agent,  or 
Assign.  To  Have  and  to  Hold  the  said  place  of  Deputy-Governor  unto 
the  said  Richard  Nicolls,  Esquire,  during  my  will  and  pleasure  only; 
Hereby  willing  and  requiring  all  and  every  the  Inhabitants  of  the  said 
Lands,  Islands,  and  Places  to  give  obedience  to  him  the  said  Richard 
Nicolls  in  all  things,  according  to  the  tenor  of  His  Majesty's  said  Letters 
Patents ;  And  the  said  Richard  Nicolls,  Esquire,  to  observe,  follow  and 
execute  such  Orders  and  Instructions  as  he  shall  from  time  to  time  receive 
from  myself.  Given,  under  my  hand  and  seal,  at  Whitehall,  this  Second 
day  of  April,  in  the  Sixteenth  Year  of  the  Reign  of  our  Sovereign  Lord 
Charles  the  Second,  'by  the  Grace  of  God  King  of  England,  Scotland, 
France,  and  Ireland,  &c,  Annoque  Domini,  1664. 


By  Command  of  His  Royal  Highness, 

W.  Coventry. 


JAMES.     (L.  S.) 


NOTE   E. 

OFFICIAL    DOCUMENTS   RELATING   TO   THE   SURRENDER   OF 
NEW  NETHERLAND,  fffE^^  1664. 

Copy  of  Stuyvesant's  full  power  to  his  Commissioners,  dated 
f$^?%  1664;-from  Albany  Records,  XVIII.  322,  323,  and 
General  Entries,  I.  30,  31. 

The  Director-General  and  Council  of  New  Netiierland  hereby 
make  known ;— To  prevent  the  effusion  of  blood,  plundering,  murders,  and 
for  the  good  of  the  inhabitants,  We  are  moved  by  the  summons  made  by 
the  honored  Lord  Richard  Nicolls,  General  of  his  Majestie  of  England, 


Appendix.  65 

being  come  with  his  men-of-war  and  soldiers  before  the  port,  promising 
freely  (by  his  own  proposition  made)  to  re-deliver  the  Fort  and  City  of 
Amsterdam  in  New  Netherland,  in  case  the  difference  of  the  limits  of  this 
Province  be  agreed  upon  betwixt  His  Majestie  of  England  and  the  High 
and  Mighty  States-General;  likewise  upon  other  equal  and  answerable 
conditions,  to  surrender  and  deliver ;  We  have  committed  and  do  commit 
by  this,  John  de  Decker,  Counsellor  of  State;  Captain  Nicholas  Verlett, 
Commissary  concerning  matters  of  traffic;  Samuel  Megapolensis,  Doctor  of 
Physick ;  Cornells  Steenwyck,  Burgomaster;  Oloff  Stevensen  van  Cort- 
landt,  old  Burgomaster ;  and  James  Cousseau,  old  Schepen  of  this  City,  to 
agree  with  the  aforesaid  Lord  General  Richard  Nicolls  or  his  deputies  upon 
further  articles ;  by  these  open  letters  promising  that  we  will  faithfully 
fulfill  whatsoever  shall  by  our  fore-named  Commissioners  concerning  these 
businesses  be  promised  and  agreed  upon.  In  testimony  of  this  it  is  con- 
firmed by  our  Seale,  in  the  Fort  of  Amsterdam  in  New  Netherland,  the  5th 
day  of  September,  New  Style,  1664. 


Copy   of    Nicolls's    full    power    to    his     Commissioners,    date  1 

52SeptemSber,  1664  '~ from  General  Entries,  I.  32,  33. 

I,  Colonel  Richard  Nicolls.  Commander-in-Chief  of  all  His  Majesties 
forces  now  beleaguering  the  town  on  the  Manhatans,  Do  accept  of  the 
proposal  made  by  the  Governor  and  his  Council  there  residing,  to  treat  of 
an  accommodation  by  Articles  of  Surrender  of  the  said  Town  and  Forts 
thereunto  belonging  under  His  Majestie's  obedience,  to  prevent  the  effusion 
of  blood  and  to  improve  the  good  of  the  inhabitants;  And  whereas  the 
Governor  and  Council  are  pleased  to  nominate  and  appoint  John  de  Decker, 
Counsellor  of  State;  Nicholas  Varlett,  Commissary  concerning  matters  of 
traffic;  Samuel  Megapolensis,  Doctor  of  Physick;  Cornells  Steenwyck, 
Burgomaster ;  Oloff  Stevensen  van  Kortlandt,  old  Burgomaster ;  and  James 
Cousseau,  old  Sheriffe  of  this  City,  to  agree  and  conclude  with  me  or  my 
Deputies,  upon  further  Articles,  promising  they  wTill  faithfully  fulfill  what- 
soever shall  be  by  their  fore-named  Commissioners  promised  or  agreed  upon 
in  the  Treaty  on  their  partes,  I  Do  Therefore,  on  my  part,  nominate  and 
appoint  Sir  Robert  Carr,  Knight;  Colonel  George  Cartwright;  Mr.  John 
Winthrop,  Governor  of  His  Majestie\s  Colony  of  Connecticut ;  Mr.  Samuel 
Willys,  one  of  the  Chief  Councill  of  the  said  Colony ;  Captain  Thomas 
Clarke,  and  Captain  John  Pincheon,  Commissioners  from  the  Court  Gen- 
erall  of  the  Colony  of  the  Massachusetts,  To  be  my  sufficient  Deputys.  no 
treat  and  conclude  upon  the  Articles  of  Surrender  of  the  aforenamed  place, 
Promising  that  I  will  faithfully  fulfill  whatsoever  they  shall  so  treat  and 
conclude  upon.  In  Testimony  Whereof,  I  have  hereunto  sett  my  hand  and 
Seale,  at  the  Camp  before  the  Manhatans,  this  26th  day  of  August,  Old 
Style,  1664. 

Richard  Nicolls. 


66  Commemorative  Oration. 

Tis  desired  and  agreed  upon  by  the  Commissioners  on  both  parts  above 
mentioned,  that  their  meeting  upon  the  premises  shall  be  to-morrow  morn- 
ing, being  the  27th  of  this  month  of  August,  Old  Style,  precisely  at  8  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  at  a  place  called  the  Governor's  Bowery,  upon  the  Man- 
hattans. 


Copy  of  the  Articles  of  Capitulation,  agreed  upon  at  the  Governor's 
Bouwery,  on  Saturday,  the  6  ^p^nher  1664,  and  confirmed  by 
Nicolls; — from  N.Y.  General  Entries,  I.  23-26,  and  from  the 
Hollandtse  Mercurius  for  September,  1664,  153,  154. 

•'  These  articles  following  were  consented  to  by  the  persons  hereunder 
subscribed,  at  the  Governor's  Bouwery,  August  27th,  Old  Style  [September 
6th],  1664. 

"  I.  We  consent  that  the  States-General,  or  the  "West  India  Company, 
shall  freely  enjoy  all  farms  and  houses  (except  such  as  are  in  the  forts),  and 
that  within  six  months  they  shall  have  free  liberty  to  transport  all  such 
arms  and  ammunition  as-  now  do  belong  to  them,  or  else  they  shall  be 
paid  for  them. 

u  II.  All  publique  houses  shall  continue  for  the  uses  which  they  are  now 
for. 

u  III.  All  people  shall  still  continue  free  denizens,  and  shall  enjoy  their 
lands,  houses,  goods,  shipps,  wheresoever  they  are  within  this  country, 
and  dispose  of  them  as  they  please. 

u  IV.  If  any  inhabitant  have  a  mind  to  remove  himself,  he  shall  have  a 
year  and  six  weeks  from  this  day  to  remove  himself,  wife,  children,  ser- 
vants, goods,  and  to  dispose  of  his  lands  here. 

"V.  If  any  officer  of  state,  or  publique  minister  of  state,  have  a  mind  to 
go  for  England,  they  shall  be  transported,  freight  free,  in  his-  majesty's  fri- 
gates, when  these  frigates  shall  return  thither. 

"  VI.  It  is  consented  to,  that  any  people  may  freely  come  from  the 
Netherlands,  and  plant  in  this  country,  and  that  Dutch  vessels  may  freely 
come  hither,  and  any  of  the  Dutch  may  freely  return  home,  or  send  any 
sort  of  merchandise  home,  in  vessels  of  their  own  country. 

"  VII.  All  ships  from  the  Netherlands,  or  any  other  place,  and  goods 
therein,  shall  be  received  here,  and  sent  hence,  after  the  manner  which  for- 
merly they  were  before  our  coining  hither,  for  six' months  next  ensuing. 

a  VIII.  The  Dutch  here  shall  enjoy  the  liberty  of  their  consciences  in 
divine  worship  and  church  discipline. 

"  IX.  No  Dutchman  here,  or  Dutch  ship  here,  shall,  upon  any  occasion, 
be  pressed  to  serve  in  war,  against  any  nation  whatsoever. 

u  X.  That  the  townsmen  of  the  Manhatoes  shall  not  have  any  soldiers 
quartered  upon  them  without  being  satisfied  and  paid  for  them  by  their 


Appendix.  67 

officers,  and  that,  at  this  present,  if  the  fort  be  not  capable  of  lodging  all 
the  soldiers,  then  the  Burgomasters,  by  their  officers,  shall  appoint  some 
houses  capable  to  receive  them. 

"  XI.  The  Dutch  here  shall  enjoy  their  own  customs  concerning  their 
inheritances. 

"  XII.  All  publique  writings  and  records,  which  concern  the  inheri- 
tances of  any  people,  or  the  reglement  of  the  church,  or  poor,  or  orphans, 
shall  be  carefully  kept  by  those  in  whose  hands  now  they  are,  and  such 
writings  as  particularly  concern  the  States-General  may  at  any  time  be 
sent  to  them. 

"XIII.  No  judgment  that  has  passed  any  judicature  here  shall  be  called 
in  question  ;  but  if  any  conceive  that  he  hath  not  had  justice  done  him,  if 
he  apply  himself  to  the  States-General,  the  other  party  shall  be  bound  to 
answer  for  the  supposed  injury. 

"  XIV.  If  any  Dutch  living  here  shall  at  any  time  desire  to  travaile  or 
traffique  into  England,  or  any  place  or  plantation  in  obedience  to  his 
Majesty  of  England,  or  with  the  Indians,  he  shall  have  (upon  his  request 
to  the  Governor)  a  certificate  that  he  is.  a  free  denizen  of  this  place,  and 
liberty  to  do  so. 

"  XV.  If  it  do  appeare  that  there  is  a  publique  engagement  of  debt  by  the 
own  of  the  Manhatoes,  and  a  way  agreed  on  for  the  satisfying  of  that  en- 
gagement, it  is  agreed  that  the  same  way  proposed  shall  go  on,  and  that 
the  engagement  shall  be  satisfied. 

"XVI.  All  inferior  civil  officers  and  magistrates  shall  continue  as  now 
they  are  (if  they  please)  till  the  customary  time  of  new  election,  and  then 
new  ones  to  be  chosen  by  themselves,  provided  that  such  new  chosen 
magistrates  shall  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  his  Majesty  of  England, 
before  they  enter  upon  their  office. 

"  XVII.  All  differences  of  contracts  and  bargains  made  before  this  day,  by 
any  in  this  country,  shall  be  determined  according  to  the  manner  of  the  Dutch. 

"XVIII.  If  it  do  appeare  that  the  West  India  Company  of  Amsterdam 
do  really  owe  any  sums  of  money  to  any  persons  here,  it  is  agreed  that 
recognition,  and  other  duties  payable  by  ships  going  for  the  Netherlands, 
be  continued  for  six  months  longer. 

"  XIX.  The  officers  military,  and  soldiers,  shall  march  out  with  their 
arms,  drums  beating,  and  coulours  flying,  and  lighted  matches  ;  and  if  any 
of  them  will  plant,  they  shall  have  fifty  acres  of  land  set  out  for  them  ;  if 
any  of  them  will  serve  as  servants,  they  shall  continue  with  all  safety,  and 
become  free  denizens  afterwards. 

"  XX.  If  at  any  time  hereafter  the  King  of  Great  Britain  and  the  States 
of  the  United  Netherlands  do  agree  that  this  place  and  country  be  rede- 
livered into  the  hands  of  the  said  States,  whensoever  his  Majestie  will  send 
his  commands  to  redeliver  it,  it  shall  immediately  be  done. 

"  XXI.  That  the  town  of  Manhatans  shall  choose  deputyes,  and  those 
deputyes  shall  have  free  voyces  in  all  publique  affairs  as  much  as  any  other 
deputyes. 


68  Commemorative  Oration. 

"  XXII.  Those  who  have  any  property  in  any  houses  in  the  fort  of 
Orange  shall  (if  they  please)  slight  the  fortifications  there,  and  then  enjoy 
all  their  houses  as  all  people  do  where  there  is  no  fort. 

"XXIII.  If  there  be  any  soldiers  that  will  go  into  Holland,  and  if  the 
Company  of  West  India  in  Amsterdam,  or  any  private  persons  here,  will 
transport  them  into  Holland,  then  they  shall  have  a  safe  passport  from 
Colonel  Richard  Nicolls,  Deputy-Governor  under"  his  Royal  Highness,  and 
the  other  Commissioners,  to  defend  the  ships  that  shall  transport  such 
soldiers,  and  all  the  goods  in  them,  from  any  surprizal  or  acts  of  hostility 
to  be  done  by  any  of  his  Majestie's  ships  or  subjects. 

"  XXIV.  That  the  copy  of  the  King's  grant  to  his  Royal  Highness,  and 
the  copy  of  his  Royal  Highness's  commission  to  Colonel  Richard  Nicolls 
(testified  by  two  Commissioners  more  and  Mr.  Winthrop,  to  be  true  copies), 
shall  be  delivered  to  the  Honourable  Mr.  Stuyvesant,  the  present  Governor, 
on  Monday  next,  by  eight  of  the  clock  in  the  morning,  at  the  Old  Mill,*  and 
also  these  articles  consented  to  and  signed  by  Colonel  Richard  Nicolls, 
Deputy-Governor  to  his  Royal  Highness ;  and  that  within  two  hours  after, 
the  fort  and  town  called  New  Amsterdam,  upon  the  island  of  Manhatoes, 
shall  be  delivered  into  the  hands  of  the  said  Colonel  Richard  Nicolls,  by 
the  service  of  such  as  shall  be  by  him  thereunto  deputed  by  his  hand  and 
seal.  • 

"  John  de  Decree,  Robert  Caee, 

Nicholas  Yaelett,  Geoege  Caetweight, 

Samuel  Megapolensis,  John  Wintheop, 

Coenelis  Steenwyck,  Samuel  Willys, 

Jacques  Cousseau,  Thomas  Clarke, 

Oloff  S.  van  Coetlandt,       John  Pinchon. 

"  I  do  consent  to  these  articles, 

"  RlCHAED    NlCOLLS." 


Copy  of  the  Ratification  of  the  Articles  of  Capitulation,  by  Stuyve- 
sant and  his  Council,  on  Monday,  tfre  ■8^2S^>  1664;— from 
Albany  Records,  XVIII.  326,  and  General  Entries,  I.  31,  32. 

The  Dieectoe-General  and  Council  of  New  Netherland,  to  all 
who  shall  hear  or  see  this,  Geeeting  :  Be  it  known  that  we  hereby  ratify 
and  confirm  the  Conditions  agreed  on  and  concluded,  on  the  Sixth  of  this 
month,  between  our  Commissioners,  the  Honorable  John  de  Decker,  mem- 
ber of  our  Council ;  Captain  Nicholas  Varlett,  Commissary  of  wares  and 
merchandises ;  the  Reverend  Samuel  Megapolensis ;  the  Honorable  Corne- 
lls Steenwyck,  Burgomaster;  Oloff  Stevensen  van  Cortlandt,  old  Burgo- 

*  For  the  situation  of  this  '•Old  Mill,"  see  ante,  p.  36.  note. 


Appendix.  69 

master;  and  Jacques  Cousseau,  old  Schepen  of  this  city,  with  the  Com- 
missioners of  the  Honorable  Governor  Richard  Nicolls,  Commander  of  His 
Britannic  Majesty's  frigates  and  land  forces  who  besieged  this  fortress  and 
city ;  namely,  Sir  Robert  Carr,  George  Cartwright,  John  Winthrop,  Samuel 
Willys,  John  Pincheon,  and  Thomas  Clarke ;  And  We  promise  to  execute 
the  same.  Done  in  Fort  Amsterdam  in  New  Netherland,  on  8th  Septem- 
ber, 1664. 

P.  Sttjyvesant. 

N.  de  Sille.  Jacob  Backer. 

Martin  Krygier.  Timothefs  Gabry. 

Paultjs  Leendertsen  van  der  Grist.         Isaac  Grevenraet. 

PlETER   ToNNEMAN.  NlCOLAAS   DE   MEYER. 

I  certifie  the  same. 

COENELIS   VAN    RlJYVEN, 

Secretary. 


NOTE    F. 

Translation  of  a  letter  from  Coknelis  van  Ruyven,  late  Secretary 
of  New  Netherland,  to  the  Dutch  Villages  on  Long  Island, 
announcing  the  Surrender,  dated,  8  September,  1664  ; — from  the 
Bushwick  Records,  and  from  Thompson's  Long  Island,  II.  165  ; 
— see  also  N".  Y.  Colonial  Documents,  II.  415,  445,  502,  509. 


September  8,  1664,  K  S. 
Beloved  Friends: 

It  has  happened  that  New  Netherland  is  given  up  to  the  English,  and 
that  Peter  Stuyvesant,  Governor  for  the  "West  India  Company,  has  marched 
out  of  the  Fort  with  his  men,  by  Beaver  street  (Severs  Paed)  to  the  Hol- 
land shipping,  which  lay  there  at  the  time ;  And  that  Governor  Richard 
Nicolls,  in  the  name  of  the  King  of  England,  ordered  a  corporal's  guard 
to  take  possession  of  the  Fort.  Afterwards,  the  Governor,  with  two  com- 
panies of  men,  marched  into  the  Fort,  accompanied  by  the  Burgomasters 
of  the  City,  who  inducted  the  Governor,  and  gave  him  a  welcome  reception. 
Governor  Nicolls  has  altered  the  name  of  the  City  of  New  Amsterdam,  and 
named  the  same  New  York,  and  named  the  fort,  Fort  James. 
From  your  friend, 

CORNELIS   VAN   RuYVEN. 


70        ,  Commemorative  Oration. 

NOTE    G. 

Translation  of  a  letter  from  the  Schout,  Burgomasters,  and 
Schepens  of  the  City  of  New  Amsterdam,  to  the  West  India 
Company,  dated,  16  September,  1664,  N".  S. ; — from  New  Amster- 
dam Records,  V.  567-570,  and  Valentine's  Manual  for  1860, 
592,  593. 

Right  Honorable,  Prudent  Lords,  the  Lords  Directors  of  the 
Honorable  West  India.  Company,  at  the  Amsterdam  Chamber: 

Right  Honorable  Lords  : — 

We,  your  Honors'  loyal,  sorrowful,  and  desolate  subjects,  cannot  neglect 
nor  keep  from  relating  the  event,  which,  through  God's  pleasure,  thus  un- 
expectedly happened  to  us  in  consequence  of  your  Honors'  neglect  and 
forgetfulness  of  your  promise ;  to  Wit :  The  arrival  here  of  late,  of  four 
King's  frigates  from  England,  sent  hither  by  His  Majesty  and  his  brother 
the  Duke  of  York,  with  commission  to  reducenot  only  this  place,  but  also 
the  whole  of  New  Netherland  under  His  Majesty's  authority ;  whereunto 
they  brought  with  them  a  large  body  of  soldiers,  provided  with  consider- 
able ammunition.  On  board  of  one  of  the  frigates  were  about  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty,  as  well  soldiers  as  seamen  ;  and  the  others  in  proportion. 

The  frigates  being  come  together  in  front  of  ISajac  in  the  Bay,  Richard 
Nicolls  the  Admiral,  who  is  ruling  here  at  present  as  Governor,  sent  a  let- 
ter to  our  Lord  Director-General,  communicating  therein  the  cause  of  his 
coming,  and  his  wish. 

On  this  unexpected  letter,  the  Heer  General  sent  for  us,  to  determine 
what  was  to  be  done  in  the  matter.  Whereupon  it  was  resolved  and  de- 
cided to  send  some  Commissioners  thither,  to  argue  the  matter  with  the 
General  and  his  three  Commissioners ;  who  were  so  sent  for  this  purpose 
twice.  But  no  answer  was  received,  except  that  they  were  not  come  here 
to  dispute  about  it,  but  to  execute  their  order  and  commission  without  fail, 
either  peaceably  or  by  force ;  and  if  they  had  any  thing  to  dispute  about 
it,  it  must  be  done  with  His  Majesty  of  England,  as  we  could  do  nothing 
here  in  the  premises.  Three  days'  delay  was  demanded  for  consultation. 
That  was  duly  allowed ; — but  meanwhile  they  were  not  idle.  They  ap- 
proached with  their  four  frigates,  two  of  which  passed  in  front  of  the 
Fort.  The  other  anchored  about  ISTooten  Island,  and  with  five  companies 
of  soldiers  encamped  themselves  at  the  Ferry  opposite  this  place  ;  together 
with  a  newly  raised  company  of  horse  and  a  party  of  new  soldiers,  both 
from  the  North  and  from  Long  Island,  mostly  all  our  deadly  enemies — who 
expected  nothing  else  than  pillage,  plunder,  and  bloodshed — as  men  could 
perceive  by  their  cursing  and  talking  when  mention  was  made  of  a  capitu- 
lation. 


Appendix.  71 

Finally,  being  then  encircled  round  about,  we  saw  little  means  of  deliver- 
ance. We  considered  what  ought  to  be  done ;  and  after  we  had  well  in- 
quired into  our  strength,  and  had  found  it  to  be  full  fifteen  hundred  souls 
in  this  place,  but  of  them  not  two  hundred  and  fifty  men  capable  of  bearing 
arms,  exclusive  of  the  soldiers,  who  were  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
strong ;  wholly  unprovided  with  powder,  both  in  the  city  and  in  the  Fort 
— yea,  not  more  than  six  hundred  pounds  were  found  in  the  Fort  besides 
seven  hundred  pounds  that  is  unserviceable ;  Also  because  the  countrymen, 
the  third  man  of  whom  was  called  out,  refused,  We,  with  the  greater  por- 
tion of  the  inhabitants,  considered  it  necessary  to  remonstrate  with  our 
Lord  Director-General  and  Council,  that  their  Honors  might  consent  to  a 
capitulation.  Whereunto  we  labored  according  to  our  duty,  and  had  much 
trouble ;  Laid  down.and  considered  all  the  difficulties  which  should  arise 
therefrom,  not  being  able  to  resist  such  an  enemy,  as  they  could  also  re- 
ceive a  much  greater  force  than  they  then  had  under  command. 

The  Director-General  and  Council  at  length  consented  thereunto. 
Whereupon  Commissioners  were  sent  to  the  Admiral,  who  notified  him  that 
it  was  resolved  to  come  to  terms,  in  order  to  save  the  shedding  of  blood, 
if  a  good  Agreement  could  be  concluded. 

Six  persons  were  commissioned  on  each  side,  for  the  purpose  of  treating 
on  this  matter  ;  which  they  have  done  and  concluded  in  manner  as  appears 
by  the  Articles  annexed.     How  that  will  result,  time  will  tell. 

Meanwhile,  since  we  have  no  longer  to  depend  upon  your  Honors'  prom- 
ises or  protection,  We,  with  all  the  poor,  sorrowing,  and  abandoned  com- 
monalty here,  must  fly  for  refuge  to  the  Almighty  God,  not  doubting  but 
He  will  stand  by  us  in  this  sorely  afflicting  conjuncture,  and  no  more  de- 
part frojn  us. 

And  we  remain  your 

Sorrowful  and  abandoned  subjects, 

pleter  tonnemax,  jacob  backer, 

Paulus  Leendertsen  vax  der  Grist,  Timotheus  Gabry, 

Cornelis  Steenwyck,  Isaac  Grevenraet, 
Nicolaas  de  Meyer. 

Done  in  Jorck,  heretofore  named  Amsterdam,  in  New  Xetherland,  Anno 
1664,  the  16th  of  September. 


72  Commemorative  Oration. 


NOTE    H. 

Translation  of  a  letter  from  the  Reverend  Samuel  Drisitjs,  one  of 
the  Collegiate  Ministers  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church  at  New 
Amsterdam,  to  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam,  dated  15  September, 
1664,  N.  S.;  from  the  Original  Manuscript  in  the  possession  of 
the  General  Synod  of  the  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch 
Church  in  North  America. 

To  the  Reverend,  Learned,  and  Pious  Beotiiers  of  the  Venerable 
Classis  of  Amsterdam. 

I  cannot  neglect  to  acquaint  your  Eeverences  with  our  present  condition, 
namely  that  we  are  now  brought  under  the  government  of  the  King  of 
England.  On  the  Twenty-sixth  of  August  there  arrived  in  the  Bay  of  the 
North  River,  near  Staten  Island,  four  great  ships-of-war  or  frigates,  well 
equipped,  manned  with  seamen  and  soldiers,  having  a  Patent  or  Commis- 
sion from  the  King  of  Great  Britain  to  demand  and  receive  this  Province 
in  the  name  of  His  Majesty,  and,  if  the  same  should  not  be  accomplished 
by  amicable  arrangement,  then  to  attack  the  place  by  force  ;  and  that  then 
all  should  be  given  over  to  the  pillage,  robbery,  and  spoil  of  the  English 
soldiers.  The  people  here  were  not  a  little  amazed  at  the  arrival  of  these 
frigates.  Our  Lords,  the  Director  and  Council,  together  with  the  Regents 
of  the  City,  took  this  affair  very  much  to  heart ;  and  with  all  diligence,  by 
messages  sent  back  and  forth  to  the  General  Richard  Nicolls,  sought 
to  delay  these  matters,  and  that  they  might  be  referred  to  his  Majesty  of 
England  and  the  Lords  States  of  Holland.  But  all  was  in  vain!  They 
landed  their  soldiers  about  six  miles  off,  at  Gravesend,  and  marched  them 
on  foot  upon  Long  Island  up  to  the  Ferry,  over  against  this  place.  And  on 
the  Fourth  of  September,  the  frigates  came  with  full  sail,  as  far  as  here, 
having  their  guns  all  ready  on  one  side,  charged  and  intending  (in  case  any 
hostilities  should  be  used  against  them)  to  discharge  their  full  broadsides  on 
this  open  place,  and  then  to  conquer  this  town  by  violence,  and  give  over  every 
thing  to  rapine  and  massacre.  Our  Noble  Lords  and  Regents,  as  well  of  the 
Noble  [West  India]  Company  as  of  the  City,  were  well  disposed  to  defend 
the  place.  But  they  saw  that  it  was  impossible ;  because  the  town  was 
not  in  a  condition  of  defence,  though  it  was  now  being  fortified ;  that  even 
then  it  could  not  be  defended,  seeing  that  each  man  would  have  to  stand 
four  rods  from  the  other  in  the  ramparts  of  the  City ;  that  there  was  little 


Appendix.  73 

provision  of  powder,  as  well  in  the  fort  as  in  the  town  ;  and  that  there  was 
no  relief  or  assistance  to  be  expected  ; — but,  on  the  other  hand,  that  a  great 
concourse  of  Englishmen,  as  well  foot  as  horse,  came  hitherwards  daily  out 
of  New  England,  very  ardent  for  the  plundering  of  this  place ;  also  that 
six  hundred  Northern  Savages,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  French  rovers, 
with  English  commissions,  had  offered  their  services  against  us.  So  it  wa<* 
that  our  authorities,  under  the  strong  urgency  of  the  burghers  and  inhab- 
itants, were  compelled,  in  order  to  prevent  plundering  and  bloodshed,  to 
resolve  (however  unwillingly)  to  come  to  an  Agreement ;  the  which  was 
accordingly  concluded  on  the  Sixth  of  September.  And  so  the  English 
marched  into  our  City  on  the  Eighth  of  September,  according  to  the  Con- 
vention. 

After  the  surrender  of  this  place,  several  Englishmen,  whom  we  have 
long  known.,  and  who  are  well  affectioned  towards  us,  came  to  us,  saying 
that  God  had  particularly  ordered  this  affair  so  that  it  was  settled  by  a  Con- 
vention ;  because  otherwise  nothing  could  have  come  out  of  it  but  plunder- 
ing, murdering,  and  total  ruin.  The  which,  also,  several  soldiers  confirmed ; 
who  said  that  they  had  come  here  out  of  England  in  hope  of  booty,  and 
now  that  it  had  fallen  out  otherwise,  they  wished  that  they  might  go  back 
again  to  England. 

And  whereas  it  was  arranged  in  the  Articles  that  the  Church  service  and 
doctrine,  together  with  the  Clergymen,  should  remain  and  continue  as  they 
have  been  until  now,  we  could  not  separate  ourselves  from  our  congregation 
and  hearers,  but  have  felt  ourselves  obliged  by  our  duty  to  abide,  yet  for  a 
time,  with  the  same,  so  that  they  should  not,  all  at  once,  be  scattered,  and 
dwindle  away. 

I  have  a  moderate  sum  due  to  me  from  the  Noble  [West  India]  Company, 
which  I  hope  and  wish  may  be  paid.     And  so  I  end,  commending  your 
reverend  persons  and  labors  to  the  blessing  of  God,  and  remain, 
Your  Reverences1  obedient  Brother, 

Samuel  Drislus. 

Manhattans. 
Anno  1664,  Sept.  15. 


PROCEEDINGS 


NEW  YORK  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 


IN   RELATION   TO 


THE   COMMEMORATION 


OP    THE 


CONQUEST  OF  NEW  NETHERLAND. 


OX   ITS 


TWO   HUNDREDTH   ANNIVERSARY. 


NEW  YORK: 
PUBLISHED    BY   THE    SOCIETY 

M  DCCC  LXIV. 


OFFICERS  OF  THE   SOCIETY 
1864. 


President, 
FREDERIC  de  PEYSTER. 

First  Vice-President, 
THOMAS  de  WITT,  D.  D. 

Second  Vice-President, 
BENJAMIN  ROBERT  WINTHROP. 

Foreign  Corresponding  Secretary, 
GEORGE  BANCROFT,  LL.  D. 

Domestic  Corresponding  Secretary, 
SAMUEL  OSGOOD,  D.  D. 

Recording  Secretary, 
ANDREW  WARNER. 

Treasurer, 
BENJAMIN  H.  FIELD. 

Librarian, 
GEORGE  HENRY  MOORE. 


EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE. 

AUGUSTUS   SCHELL, 
ERASTUS  C.  BENEDICT, 
BENJAMIN  W.  BONNEY, 
JOHN  ROMEYN  BRODHEAD, 
WILLIAM  CHAUNCEY, 
CHARLES  P.  KIRKLAND, 
GEORGE  FOLSOM, 
GEORGE  GIBBS, 
ROBERT  L.  STUART. 


NEW  YORK  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 


COMMEMORATION 

OP   THE 


CONQUEST  OF  NEW  NETHERLAND. 


October  12,  1864. 

The  New  York  Historic  il  Society,  at  its  meeting  on  the  second 
of  February,  1864,  taking  into  consideration  the  importance  of  the 
event,  resolved  that  it  would  commemorate,  by  suitable  acts  and 
proceedings,  the  Two  Hundredth  Anniversary  of  the  Conquest  of 
New  Netherland,  in  the  autumn  of  the  year  1664. 

A  Committee  of  Arrangements,  including  some  of  its  most 
distinguished  members,  was  accordingly  appointed,  and  John 
Komeyn  Beodhead  was  selected  to  deliver  the  Commemorative 
Oration. 

The  Committee,  in  executing  their  duty,  addressed  the  following 
letter  of  invitation  to  various  Historical  Societies  and  eminent 
citizens  in  New  York  and  other  States  : — 

NEW    YORK    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY. 

Library,  New  York  City,  September  loth,  1864. 

Sir  : — The  New  York:  Historical  Society  proposes  to  commemorate,  by  suit- 
able Acts  and  Proceedings,  the  Two  Hundredth  Anniversary  of  the  Conquest  of 
New  Netherland,  in  the  autumn  of  the  year  1664. 

Next  to  the  discovery  in  1609,  by  the  Dutch,  of  New  Netherland — the  original 
bounds  of  which  included  the  present  States  of  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Vermont. 
Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania, 


80  Proceedings  of  the  society. 

and  Delaware — its  conquest  by  the  English,  in  1664,  is  the  most  interesting  event 
in  the  Colonial  History  of  New  York.  The  consequences  of  this  event  were  of 
momentous  import,  not  only  to  the  City  and  the  State  of  New  York,  but  to  the 
American  Union.  It  forms  one  of  those  great  epochs  in  National  existence  which 
it  is  the  special  office  of  Historical  Societies  fitly  to  observe. 

The  time  appointed  for  the  proposed  commemoration  is  Wednesday,  the 
Twelfth  of  October  next,  being  just  two  centuries  after  the  last  Dutch  Fort  on 
the  Delaware  was  taken  by  the  English,  and  the  conquest  of  New  Netherland  was 
completed. 

An  Oration  will  be  delivered  on  that  day,  before  the  Society  and  its  guests,  at 
the  Hall  of  the  Union,  Cooper  Institute,  in  this  City,  by  John  Romeyn  Brod- 
head,  LL.D. ;  and  other  proceedings  will  take  place. 

In  behalf  of  the  New  York.  Historical  Society,  the  undersigned  request  the 
pleasure  of  your  attendance  on  this  occasion. 

Awaiting  your  favorable  reply, 

We  have  the  honor  to  be,  Sir,     * 

Your  obedient  servants, 

Gulian  C.  Yeki'Lanck,  Frederic  de  Peysteh, 

George  Bancroft,  Augustus  Schell, 

Hamilton  Fish,  George  Folsom, 

James  W.  Beekman,  Charles  P.  Kirkland, 

Evert  A.  Duyckinck,  Andrew  Warner, 

George  II.  Moore, 

Committee  of  Arrangements. 

In  pursuance  of  these  arrangements,  a  special  meeting  of  the 
Society  was  held  at  the  Hall  of  the  Union,  Cooper  Institute,  at  a 
quarter  past  seven  o'clock,  on  Wednesday  evening,  the  twelfth  of 
October,  1864. 

Notwithstanding  the  inclemency  of  the  weather,  the  meeting- 
was  largely  attended  by  a  very  respectable  audience.  Among 
those  who  occupied  seats  on  the  platform  were  many  distinguished 
citizens,  representing  various  departments  in  the  State  and  munici- 
pal governments,  the  Army  and  Navy,  and  the  learned  professions. 
Delegates  from  several  Historical  Societies  were  also  present.  The 
New  Hampshire  Society  was  represented  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  N.  Bou- 
ton  and  Joseph  B.  Walker,  Esq. ;  Maine,  by  the  Rev.  William 
Stevens  Perry  ;  Rhode  Island,  by  Dr.  Usher  Parsons ;  Connecticut, 
by  J.  Hammond  Trumbull,  Esq. ;  New  Jersey,  by  William  A. 
Whitehead,  Esq.,  and  Solomon  Alofsen,  Esq. ;  Pennsylvania,  by 
Thomas  H.  Montgomery,  Esq. ;  Delaware,  by  Bishop  Lee,  Dr. 
Henry  F-  Askew,  and  William  D-  Dowe,  Esq. ;  Long  Island,  by 


Proceedings  of  the  Society.  81 

the  Rev.  Dr.  R.  S.  Storrs,  Charles  E.  West,  LL.D.,  Joshua  M. 
Van  Cott,  Esq.,  Dr.  Henry  R.  Stiles,  and  Alden  J.  Spooner,  Esq.; 
Buffalo,  by  William  Dorsheiraer,  Esq.,  Dr.  James  P.  White, 
George  S.  Hazard,  Esq. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  by  Frederic  De  Peyster, 
Esquire,  the  President  of  the  Society,  who  addressed  the  audience 
as  follows : — 

Members  and  Guests  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society  : 

We  are  assembled  this  evening  to  commemorate  the  Two  Hundredth  Anniver- 
sary of  the  Conquest  of  New  Netherland,  in  the  autumn  of  the  year  1664.  The 
circumstances  and  the  consequences  of  this  momentous  event  will  be  appropriately 
set  forth  to  you  by  the  Orator  selected  by  the  Society.  A  century  after  her  con- 
quest, New  York  was  foremost  among  her  sister  colonies  in  taking  measures  which 
looked  towards  National  Independence.  Retributive  justice,  in  1783,  followed 
slowly,  but  surely,  the  trespass  of  1664.  In  our  own  day,  when  another  century 
has  passed  away,  our  powerful  and  patriotic  State  is  found  putting  forth  gigantic 
efforts  to  maintain  our  National  Union ;  assaulted  as  it  is  by  domestic  treason, 
which  is  fostered  by  foreign  machinations.  The  Commemorative  Oration,  on  this 
occasion,  will  be  delivered  by  our  fellow-member,  John  Romeyn  Brodhead,  Doctor 
of  Laws,  and  well  known  as  the  historian  of  our  State.  The  proceedings  of  this 
evening  will  begin  by  a  Prayer,  to  be  offered  by  the  Reverend  Thomas  De  Witt, 
Doctor  of  Divinity,  Senior  Minister  of  the  Collegiate  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch 
Church  in  this  city,  and  First  Vice-President  of  this  Society. 

The  Reverend  Doctor  De  Witt  then  offered  an  appropriate 
Prayer. 

After  which,  the  President  introduced  Mr.  Brodhead,  who  pro- 
ceeded to  deliver  his  Oration. 

At  the  conclusion  of  Mr.  Brodhead 's  Oration,  the  Honorable 
Gulian  Crommelin  Verplanck  rose  to  move  a  resolution  of 
thanks. 

Mr.  Verplanck  said,  that  in  offering  this  Resolution,  laboring  as  he  was  under 
a  severe  cold,  and  a  hoarseness  which  must  render  his  voice  scarcely  audible  to 
most  of  this  assembly,  yet  he  could  not  refrain  from  expressing  the  high  gratifica- 
tion he  had  felt  in  listening  to  the  discourse  just  concluded.  It  contained  much 
curious  and  instructive  historical  information,  most  of  it  not  familiar  even  to  the 
studious  historical  inquirer,  and  the  fruit  of  large  and  accurate  research.  It  was 
enriched  throughout  by  a  sagacious  and  clear-sighted  historical  philosophy, 
tracing  out  both  the  causes  and  the  results  of  the  most  striking  and  the  noblest 
peculiarities  of  the  character  and  fortunes  of  our  State  and  Nation.  Above  all,  he 
could  not  but  admire,  as  well  as  sympathize  with,  the  glowing  and  grateful  ances- 
tral spirit  which  animated  the  Orator, — a  worthy  descendant  of  the  compatriots  of 
"William  the    Silent, — and  which  had  enkindled  congenial  emotions  among  his 

6 


82  Proceedings  of  the  Society. 

hearers.  Mr.  Verplanck  added,  that  he  was  not  able  to  expatiate  on  this 
rich  and  abundant  theme,  but  must  have  recourse  to  the  better  voice  of  the 
Secretary,  to  make  his  resolution  audible  to  the  Society. 

The  Resolution  offered  by  Mr.  Veeplanck  having  been  read,  as 
follows  : — 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  this  Society  are  eminently  due,  and  are  hereby 
tendered,  to  John  Romeyn  Brodhead,  LL.  D.,  for  his  eloquent  Oration,  delivered 
this  evening,  in  Commemoration  of  the  Conquest  of  New  Netherland,  and  that  a 
copy  be  requested  for  the  Archives  of  the  Society,  and  for  publication : — 

The  Honorable  Geoege  Banceoft  said  : — 

I  rise  to  second  the  vote  of  thanks  which  has  been  proposed  for  the  admi- 
rable discourse  to  which  we  have  just  listened.  It  is  marked  by  a  thorough  and 
comprehensive  knowledge  of  the  subject,  and  by  a  careful  style ;  and  it  has 
been  delivered  with  an  earnestness  which  has  enchained  the  attention  of  all. 

We  remind  ourselves,  with  just  pride,  that  Mr.  Brodhead  is  one  of  the  oldest 
members  of  our  Society,  and  not  surpassed  by  any  in  diligence  and  efficiency.  It 
is  to  him  that  this  State  owes  an  invaluable  collection  of  the  Documents,  gathered 
from  many  sources,  to  illustrate  its  History.  To  him,  also,  it  owes  the  commence- 
ment of  a  work  on  its  history,  which  is  so  full,  so  accurate,  so  marked  by  re- 
search, and  an  honest  love  of  historic  truth,  that  we  have  only  to  bid  him  go  on 
and  finish  what  he  has  so  worthily  begun. 

We  have  all  been  pleased  with  the  zeal  with  which  he  has,  this  evening,  dwelt 
on  the  virtues  of  the  Republic  of  the  United  Netherlands ;  and  there  can  be  no 
division  of  opinion  as  to  the  substantial  fidelity  of  his  picture.  Such  was  always 
the  opinion  of  New  England.  The  founders  of  the  first  colony  in  Massachusetts, 
when  they  fled  from  the  persecutions  of  their  mother  country,  knew  that  Holland 
alone  was  the  land  where  they  could  enjoy  freedom  of  conscience ;  and  in  our  day 
the  hand  that  has  portrayed,  in  the  strongest  and  most  lasting  colors,  the  heroism 
and  the  sufferings  of  the  Batavians,  when,  in  pursuit  of  their  liberties,  they  went 
unflinchingly  through  the  baptism  of  fire  and  of  blood,  was  that  of  a  New 
Englander. 

Our  orator  has  set  before  our  eyes  a  bright  vision  of  the  glory  of  New  Nether- 
land, when  its  territory,  according  to  its  claims,  extended  from  some  shadowy 
boundary  in  the  distant  north,  beyond  the  southern  Cape  of  the  Delaware ;  and 
has  set  before  us  the  successive  aggressions  by  which  that  vast  territory  was  dis- 
membered, and  formed  into  separate  communities  and  States.  Yet,  as  I  listened 
to  him,  I  seemed  to  think  that  the  Providence  which  rules  in  human  affairs, 
manifested  in  this  a  benevolent  design.  Had  New  Netherland  remained  undi- 
vided, it  would  have  been  so  powerful,  so  opulent,  and  so  self-relying,  that  it  might 
have  spurned  at  the  thought  of  an  equal  union  with  other  Colonies.  It  was  broken 
into  pieces,  that  New  York,  which  by  its  position  ought  to  be  the  eye  oT  the  country, 
might  learn  to  feel  its  high  vocation,  to  rally  the  many  States  of  our  Republic  into 
superior  union,  to  defend  that  union  against  all  assailants,  and  to  remain  forever 
its  spear  and  its  shield ! 


Proceedings  of  the  Society.  83 

The  Resolution  was  unanimously  adopted. 

The  Benediction  was  then  pronounced  by  the  Reverend  Doctor 
De  Witt. 

Immediately  afterwards,  a  Reception  was  held  at  the  Library  of 
the  Society,  which  was  well  attended.  After  some  time  spent  in 
examining  the  Museum  and  Galleries,  an  entertainment  was  served 
in  the  Nineveh  Room.  At  the  call  of  the  President,  remarks  were 
made  by  several  of  the  invited  guests,  among  whom  were — 

Alden  J.  Spooner,  Esq.,  of  the  Long  Island  Historical  Society. 
William  Dorsheimer,  Esq.,  of  the  Buffalo  Historical  Society. 
Thomas  H.  Montgomery,  Esq.,  of  the  Pennsylvania  Historical 
Society. 

Alfred  B.  Street,  Esq.,  of  Albany. 
Attorney-General  John  Cochrane. 


84  Proceedings  of  the  Society. 


CORRESPONDENCE,  ETC. 

1.  From  Brantz  Mayer,  dated  Baltimore,  September  24,  1864,  accepting 
the  invitation  of  the  Committee. 

2.  From  John  William  Wallace,  dated  Philadelphia,  September  25,  1864, 
accepting  the  invitation  of  the  Committee. 

3.  From  Henry  E.  Schoolcraft,  dated  Washington,  September  25,  1864. 
accepting  the  invitation  of  the  Committee. 

4.  From  John  M.  Barbour,  dated  New  York,  September  26, 1864,  accept- 
ing the  invitation  of  the  Committee. 

5.  From  Millard  Fillmore,  President  of  the  Buffalo  Historical  Society, 
dated  Buffalo,  September  26,  1864,  accepting  the  invitation  of  the  Com- 
mittee. 

6.  From  Charles  J.  Hoadley,  dated  Hartford,  September  26, 1864,  accept- 
ing the  invitation  of  the  Committee. 

7.  From  William  H.  Bogart,  dated  Aurora,  Cayuga  Lake,  September  27, 
1864,  accepting  the  invitation  of  the  Committee. 

8.  From  the  Mayor  of  the  City  of  New  York,  dated  New  York,  Septem- 
ber 27,  1864,  accepting  the  invitation  of  the  Committee. 

9.  From  James  Moncrief,  dated  New  York,  29th  September,  1864,  accept- 
ing the  invitation  of  the  Committee. 

10.  From  William  H.  Seward,  dated  Washington  City,  29th  September, 
1864,  acknowledging  the  invitation  of  the  Committee: — 

"I  am  profoundly  gratified  for  the  consideration  which  the  New  York  Histor- 
ical Society  have  manifested,  by  inviting  me  to  attend  their  proposed  Celebration 
of  the  Two  Hundredth  Anniversary  of  the  Conquest  of  New  Netherland.  The 
changes  in  the  condition  of  the  American  Continent  which  have  followed,  and  in 
some  respects  are  due  to,  that  great  Revolution,  contribute  a  theme  upon  which  I 
should  like  to  hear  the  distinguished  scholar  •  you  have  chosen  to  be  the  Orator  of 
the  occasion.  But,  just  now,  I  am  encumbered  with  the  cares  incident  to  the 
effort  of  our  country  to  save  all  that  she  has  hitherto  gained,  and  to  secure  for 
the  continent  a  brighter  and  nobler  future  than  we  have  before  contemplated ; 
and  so,  my  respected  and  esteemed  friend,  I  must  ask  you  to  have  me  excused." 

11.  From  N.  Bouton,  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  New  Hampshire 
Historical  Society,  dated  Concord,  N.  H.,  September  29,  1864,  communi- 
cating the  acceptance  of  the  invitation  of  the  Committee,  and  the  appoint- 


PROCEEDINGS    OF    THE    SOCIETY.  85 

raent  of  the  Eev.  N.  Bouton,  D.  D.,  and  Joseph  B.  Walker,  Esq.,  as  dele- 
gates from  that  Society. 

12.  From  Gideon  J.  Tucker,  Surrogate,  &c,  dated  New  York,  September 
30,  1864,  accepting  the  invitation  of  the  Committee. 

13.  From  D.  T.  Valentine,  dated  New  York,  October  1,  1864,  accepting 
the  invitation  of  the  Committee. 

14.  From  Charles  W.  Sandford,  Major-General,  &c,  dated  New  York, 
October  1,  1864,  accepting  the  invitation  of  the  Committee. 

15.  From  Henry  E.  Davies,  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Appeals,  dated  Albany, 
October  1,  1864,  accepting  the  invitation  of  the  Committee. 

16.  From  Henry  R.  Selden,  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Appeals,  dated  Roches- 
ter, October  3,  1864,  acknowledging  the  invitation  of  the  Committee. 

IT.  From  William  A.  Whitehead,  dated  Newark,  N.  J.,  October  3,  1864, 
accepting  the  invitation  of  the  Committee. 

18.  From  William  A.  Whitehead,  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  New 
Jersey  Historical  Society,  dated  Newark,  N.  J.,  October  3,  1864,  commu- 
nicating the  acceptance  of  the  invitation  of  the  Committee,  and  the  ap- 
pointment of  the  Hon.  Richard  S.  Field,  Solomon  Alofsen,  Esq.,  and 
William  A.  Whitehead,  Esq.,  as  delegates  from  that  Society. 

19.  From  Edward  Ballard,  Secretary  of  the  Maine  Historical  Society, 
dated  Brunswick,  Me.,  October  4,  1864,  communicating  the  acceptance  of 
the  invitation  of  the  Committee,  and  the  appointment  of  the  Hon.  Edward 
E.  Bourne,  the  Right  Rev.  George  Burgess,  D.  D.,  the  Hon.  William  Willis, 
the  Hon.  John  A.  Poor,  and  the  Rev.  Edward  Ballard,  as  delegates  from 
that  Society. 

20.  From  Robert  C.  Winthrop,  President  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society,  dated  Boston,  October  5,  1864,  communicating  the  acceptance  of 
the  invitation  of  the  Committee,  and  the  appointment  of  delegates  from 
that  Society: — 

"  Your  obliging  communication,  inviting  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society  to 
send  a  delegation  to  your  most  interesting  Commemoration  on  the  12th  instant, 
was  gratefully  received.  As  no  meeting  of  our  Society  would  take  place  until  after 
the  occasion  was  over,  our  Standing  Committee  have  appointed  several  of  our 
members  to  represent  us  on  the  occasion ;  and  I  trust  that  they  will  be  present 
with  you. 

"  I  regret  extremely  that  it  will  not  be  in  my  own  power  to  attend  this  festival, 
agreeably  to  your  kind  request.  I  have  not  forgotten  the  prominent  part  which 
was  played  by  Governor  Winthrop,  of  Connecticut,  in  the  events  which  you  com- 
memorate ;  and  it  would  be  particularly  pleasant  to  me  to  be  permitted  to  repre- 
sent him  on  the  occasion.  But  if  your  worthy  Vice-President  shall  have  returned 
from  Europe  in  season  for  the  celebration,  you  will  have  a  representative  of  Win- 
throp and  Stuyvesant  in  the  same  person.  My  worthy  cousin  would  also  be  able 
to  bring  with  him  the  original  draft  of  the  letter  of  Winthrop  to  Stuyvesant, 
which  was  the  occasion  of  so  much  violent  indignation.  It  was  my  good  fortune 
to  obtain  possession  of  this  letter,  a  few  years  since,  and,  after  printing  it  in  our 
Massachusetts  Historical  Collections,  to  transfer  it  to  the  ownership  of  one  who 
had  a  double  claim  to  its  possession." 


86  Proceedings  of  the  society. 

21.  From  Edward  Everett,  dated  Boston,  October  5. 1864,  acknowledging 
the  invitation  of  the  Committee: — 

"  I  have  received  your  obliging  invitation  to  attend  the  Celebration,  by  the  New 
York  Historical  Society,  of  the  Two  Hundredth  Anniversary  of  the  Conquest  of 
New  Netherland  by  the  English. 

"  The  historical  importance  of  that  event — deciding,  as  it  did,  the  nationality  of 
North  America — renders  it  a  highly  proper  subject  for  commemoration  ;  and  your 
fortunate  selection  of  an  Orator  for  the  occasion,  my  friend  Mr.  Brodhead,  than 
whom  no  one  is  better  acquainted  with  the  history  of  that  period,  gives  assurance 
that  the  treatment  of  the  topic  will  be  worthy  of  its  intrinsic  interest.  I  much 
regret  that  I  must  deny  myself  the  pleasure  of  being  present." 

22.  From  Samuel  Hazard,  dated  Germantown,  October  5, 1864,  acknowl- 
edging the  invitation  of  the  Committee. 

23.  From  John  E.  Bartlett,  dated  Providence,  K.  I.,  October  5,  1864, 
acknowledging  the  invitation  of  the  Committee. 

24.  From  Henry  C.  Murphy,  dated  Brooklyn,  October  5,  1864,  accepting 
the  invitation  of  the  Committee. 

25.  From  M.  Komero,  Mexican  Minister,  dated  "Washington  City,  D.  0. 
October  5,  1864,  accepting  the  invitation  of  the  Committee. 

26.  From  H.  H.  Van  Dyck,  Superintendent,  &c,  dated  Albany,  October 
5, 1864,  accepting  the  invitation  of  the  Committee. 

27.  From  W.  K.  Scott,  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  Buffalo  Historical 
Society,  dated  October  5,  1864,  communicating  the  acceptance  of  the  invi- 
tation of  the  Committee,  and  the  appointment  of  Millard  Fillmore,  Eev. 
Walter  Clarke,  G.  B.  Babcock,  O.  H.  Marshall,  Dr.  J.  P.  White,  H.  W. 
Eogers,  O.  G.  Steele,  N.  K.  Hall,  George  B.  Hibbard,  and  John  Ganson, 
as  delegates  from  that  Society. 

28.  From  Hiland  Hall,  President  of  the  Vermont  Historical  Society, 
dated  North  Bennington,  Vt.,  October  7,  1864,  acknowledging  the  invita- 
tion of  the  Committee. 

29.  From  E.  A.  Dalrymple,  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  Maryland 
Historical  Society,  dated  Baltimore,  October  7,  1864,  communicating  the 
acceptance  of  the  invitation  of  the  Committee,  and  the  appointment  of  the 
Hon.  John  P.  Kennedy,  Philip  T.  Tyson,  the  Eev.  Dr.  John  G.  Morris, 
John  H.  Alexander,  and  John  H.  B.  Latrobe,  as  delegates  from  that  So- 
ciety. 

30.  From  J.  Wingate  Thornton,  dated  Boston,  October  8,  1864,  acknowl- 
edging the  invitation  of  the  Committee. 

31.  From  Millard  Fillmore,  President  of  the  Buffalo  Historical  Society, 
dated  Buffalo,  October  8,  1864,  appointing  Philip  Dorsheimer  a  delegate 
from  that  Society. 

32.  From  H.  Denio,  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Appeals,  dated  Utica,  October 
8,  1864,  acknowledging  the  invitation  of  the  Committee. 

33.  From  William  Barnes,  Superintendent,  &c,  dated  Albany,  October 
8,  1864,  accepting  the  invitation  of  the  Committee. 


Proceedings  of  the  Society.  87 

34.  From  Horatio  Gates  Jones,  dated  Philadelphia,  October  8,  1864, 
acknowledging  the  invitation  of  the  Committee. 

35.  From  William  D.  Dowe,  Recording  Secretary  of  the  Historical  Soci- 
ety of  Delaware,  dated  Wilmington,  Del.,  October  8,  1864,  communicating 
the  acceptance  of  the  invitation  of  the  Committee,  and  the  appointment  of 
Henry  F.  Askew,  M.  D.,  Rev.  Charles  Breck,  and  William  D.  Dowe,  Esq., 
as  delegates  from  that  Society. 

36.  From  the  same,  dated  Wilmington,  October  10,  1864,  announcing  the 
appointment  of  the  Rt.  Rev.  Alfred  Lee,  Bishop  of  Delaware,  &c,  in  place 
of  the  Rev.  Charles  Breck,  as  a  delegate  from  that  Society. 

37.  From  Henry  R.  Stiles,  M.  D.,  Librarian  of  the  Long  Island  Historical 
Society,  dated  Brooklyn,  October  8,  1864,  communicating  the  acceptance 
of  the  invitation  of  the  Committee,  and  the  appointment  of  the  Rev.  R.  S. 
Storrs,  Jr.,  D.  D.,  the  Hon.  Henry  C.  Murphy,  Charles  E.  West,  LL.  D., 
B.  O.  Silliman,  Esq.,  Joshua  M.  Van  Cott,  Esq.,  Alden  J.  Spooner,  Esq., 
and  the  President  and  Librarian,  ex-officio,  as  delegates  from  that  Society. 

38.  From  William  W.  Campbell,  dated  Cherry  Valley,  October  10,  1864, 
acknowledging  the  invitation  of  the  Committee. 

39.  From  Andrew  H.  Green,  Comptroller  of  the  Central  Park,  dated 
New  York,  October  10,  1864,  in  behalf  of  the  Commissioners  of  the  Park, 
accepting  the  invitation  of  the  Committee.  9 

40.  From  J.  Hammond  Trumbull,  dated  Hartford,  Conn.,  October  10, 
1864,  accepting  the  invitation  of  the  Committee. 

41.  From  George  F.  Houghton,  Recording  Secretary  of  the  Vermont  His- 
torical Society,  dated  St.  Albans,  Vermont,  October  10,  1864,  communi- 
cating the  acceptance  of  the  invitation  of  the  Committee,  and  the  appoint- 
ment of  Messrs.  Henry  Hall  and  George  F.  Houghton,  as  delegates  from 
that  Society. 

42.  From  Albert  G.  Greene,  President  of  the  Rhode  Island  Historical 
Society,  dated  Providence,  October  10,  1864,  acknowledging  the  invitation 
of  the  Committee. 

43.  From  Charles  J.  Hoadley,  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  Connec- 
ticut Historical  Society,  dated  Hartford,  October  11,  1864,  communicating 
the  acceptance  of  the  invitation  of  the  Committee,  and  the  appointment  of 
the  Hon.  Henry  C.  Deming,  and  Messrs.  Samuel  H.  Parsons  and  Erastus 
Smith,  as  delegates  from  that  Society. 

44.  From  John  V.  L.  Pruyn,  Chancellor  of  the  University  of  the  State  of 
New  York,  dated  Albany,  October,  11,  1864,  acknowledging  the  invitation 
of  the  Committee. 

**#  The  Committee  desire  to  acknowledge  their  obligations  to  Messrs.  Harper  and  Brothers, 
the  Publishers  of  Mr.  Brodhead's  History  of  New  York,  for  the  use  of  the  Map  prefixed  to  that 
work,  which  illustrates  this  publication. 


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